Distribution and playback of media content

ABSTRACT

Techniques and systems are provided for processing media data. For example, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media are described that can include receiving a multicast stream of media content, and dividing the multicast stream of media content into data fragments. In some cases, the multicast stream of media content can be transcoded from a first media format to a second media format. The data fragments can be transmitted, over one or more Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels using a web socket protocol, to a browser of the computing device for playback.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/631,480, filed Feb. 15, 2018, and also claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/754,441, filed Nov. 1, 2018, both ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference, in their entirety and forall purposes.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to distribution and playback ofmedia content. For example, systems, methods, apparatus, andcomputer-readable media are provided for providing secure, low delay,bandwidth optimized distribution of media content for playback onstandard web browsers and/or other suitable playback platform.

SUMMARY

Certain aspects and features of the present disclosure relate todistribution of media content for playback on standard web browsersand/or other suitable playback platforms. For example, in order tosupport playback of media content without compromising costs, latency,footprint, and overall user experience, and without the need to rely onbrowser plugins and/or extensions, the systems and techniques describedherein provide for distribution and playback of media content through anetwork (e.g., an enterprise network or other organizational network, orany other suitable network) to any type of web-based browser and/orother type of web-based media player. In some examples, the mediacontent can include digital internet protocol (IP) based media streamswith video and audio, or other suitable media content. The systems andtechniques described herein allow for low latency, smooth playback of asingle video or multiple videos (e.g., high definition videos or othersuitable video content). In various examples, the systems and techniquesallow for transitions between different content, multi-window support,audio support, metadata support (e.g., Key-Length-Value (KLV) metadata,STANAG metadata, and/or other type of metadata), and encryption support(e.g., Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or other suitable encryptionstandard). For example, in some cases, systems and techniques describedherein can provide the ability to transition between a single view (witha single video) and a mosaic view (with multiple videos), where theaudio and video of the media content stay in synchronization.

According to at least one example, a method of processing media data isprovided. The method includes receiving, at a computing device, amulticast stream of media content. The method further includesgenerating, by the computing device, a unicast stream of media contentfrom the multicast stream of media content. The method further includestranscoding, by the computing device, the unicast stream of mediacontent from a first media format to a second media format. The methodfurther includes transmitting, over one or more Transmission ControlProtocol (TCP) channels using a web socket protocol, the transcodedunicast stream of media content to a browser of the computing device forplayback.

In another example, an apparatus for processing media data is providedthat includes a memory configured to store video data and a processor.The processor is configured to and can receive a multicast stream ofmedia content. The processor is further configured to and can generate aunicast stream of media content from the multicast stream of mediacontent. The processor is further configured to and can transcode theunicast stream of media content from a first media format to a secondmedia format. The processor is further configured to and can transmit,over one or more Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels using aweb socket protocol, the transcoded unicast stream of media content to abrowser of the computing device for playback.

In another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium isprovided that has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by oneor more processors, cause the one or more processor to: receive amulticast stream of media content; generate a unicast stream of mediacontent from the multicast stream of media content; transcode theunicast stream of media content from a first media format to a secondmedia format; and transmit, over one or more Transmission ControlProtocol (TCP) channels using a web socket protocol, the transcodedunicast stream of media content to a browser of the computing device forplayback

In another example, an apparatus for processing media data is provided.The apparatus includes means for receiving a multicast stream of mediacontent. The apparatus further includes means for generating a unicaststream of media content from the multicast stream of media content. Theapparatus further includes means for transcoding the unicast stream ofmedia content from a first media format to a second media format. Theapparatus further includes means for transmitting, over one or moreTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels using a web socketprotocol, the transcoded unicast stream of media content to a browser ofthe computing device for playback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receiving thetranscoded unicast stream of media content on a local port (e.g., alocal Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) port) of the apparatuses orcomputing device. In such cases, the transcoded unicast stream of mediacontent is transmitted from the port (e.g., the HTTP port) to thebrowser using the web socket protocol.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decrypting one ormore payloads of the multicast stream of media content.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include displaying, by thecomputing device or apparatuses, the transcoded unicast stream of mediacontent using the browser (or a media player implemented by thebrowser).

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include storing one or morevideo frames of the unicast stream of media content. In some examples,the stored one or more video frames of the unicast stream of mediacontent are not transcoded. In some examples, the method, apparatuses,and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includedisplaying, by the computing device or apparatuses, the stored one ormore video frames using the browser (or a media player implemented bythe browser).

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receiving, at thecomputing device or apparatuses, an additional multicast stream of mediacontent. In such cases, the process includes generating, by thecomputing device or apparatuses, an additional unicast stream of mediacontent from the an additional multicast stream of media content, andstoring one or more video frames of the additional unicast stream ofmedia content. In such cases, the method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can furtherinclude displaying, by the computing device (or apparatuses) using thebrowser, the transcoded unicast stream of media content in a firstportion of a display of the computing device (or apparatuses), anddisplaying, by the computing device (or apparatuses) using the browser,the stored one or more video frames of the additional unicast stream ofmedia content in a second portion of a display of the computing device(or apparatuses).

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receiving (by thecomputing device or apparatuses) information associated with an amountof CPU consumption of the computing device (or apparatuses), andadjusting a number of frames from the unicast stream of media contentthat are stored in the memory. In such examples, the number of framescan be adjusted in response to the information associated with theamount of CPU consumption. In some cases, the method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includeadjusting a resolution of one or more video frames in response to theinformation associated with the amount of CPU consumption. In someexamples, the resolution can be adjusted without adjusting the framerate at which the frames are stored and provided to the browser forplayback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofCPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption has exceeded a CPUconsumption threshold. In some examples, the method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includeincreasing the number of frames from the unicast stream of media contentthat are stored in the memory when the information associated with theamount of CPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption is below a CPUconsumption threshold. In some examples, the method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includedecreasing the number of frames from the unicast stream of media contentthat are stored in the memory when the information associated with theamount of CPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption has increased.In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include increasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofCPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption has decreased.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receivinginformation associated with an amount of random access memory (RAM)usage by the computing device, and adjusting a number of frames from theunicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory, whereinthe number of frames are adjusted in response to the informationassociated with the amount of RAM usage. In some examples, the method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan include adjusting a resolution of the one or more video frames inresponse to the information associated with the amount of RAM usage. Insome examples, the resolution can be adjusted without adjusting theframe rate at which the frames are stored and provided to the browserfor playback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage has exceeded a RAM usage threshold. Insome examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include increasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage is below a RAM usage threshold. Insome examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage has increased. In some examples, themethod, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable mediumdescribed above can include increasing the number of frames from theunicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory when theinformation associated with the amount of RAM usage indicates the RAMusage has decreased.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receivinginformation associated with an amount of resources used by the browser,and adjusting a number of frames from the unicast stream of mediacontent that are stored in the memory, wherein the number of frames areadjusted in response to the information associated with the amount ofresources used by the browser. In some examples, the method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan include adjusting a resolution of the one or more video frames inresponse to the information associated with the amount of resources usedby the browser. In some examples, the resolution can be adjusted withoutadjusting the frame rate at which the frames are stored and provided tothe browser for playback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofresources used by the browser indicates the amount of resources hasexceeded a resource usage threshold. In some examples, the method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan include increasing the number of frames from the unicast stream ofmedia content that are stored in the memory when the informationassociated with the amount of resources used by the browser indicatesthe amount of resources is below a resource usage threshold. In someexamples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described above can include decreasing the number of frames fromthe unicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory whenthe information associated with the amount of resources used by thebrowser indicates the amount of resources has increased. In someexamples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described above can include increasing the number of frames fromthe unicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory whenthe information associated with the amount of resources used by thebrowser indicates the amount of resources has decreased.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include extracting metadatafrom the unicast stream of media content, wherein the transcoded unicaststream of media content does not include the metadata. The metadata caninclude KLV metadata (e.g., frame-aligned, frame-accurate KLV metadata),or other suitable metadata. In some examples, the method, apparatuses,and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includecombining the extracted metadata from the unicast stream of mediacontent with the transcoded unicast stream of media content, anddisplaying the combined extracted metadata and the transcoded unicaststream of media content.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include recording, in amemory of the computing device (or apparatuses), one or more payloads ofthe multicast stream.

In some cases, a plugin is not used for generating the unicast stream ofmedia content and for transcoding the unicast stream of media content.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include generating one ormore time stamps for one or more packets of the unicast stream of mediacontent, and associating the one or more time stamps with the one ormore packets of the unicast stream of media content. In such examples,time stamps can be added to audio packets, video packets, and metadatapackets of the unicast stream of media content.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include generating arequest to receive the multicast stream of video; and transmitting therequest to a video source, wherein the multicast stream of video isreceived in response to the request.

In some examples, the media content includes video content and audiocontent.

According to at least one other example, a method of processing mediadata is provided. The method can include receiving, at a computingdevice, a multicast stream of media content, and generating, by thecomputing device, a unicast stream of media content from the multicaststream of media content. The method can further include storing, by thecomputing device, one or more video frames of the unicast stream ofmedia content. The method can further include transmitting, over one ormore TCP channels using a web socket protocol, the one or more videoframes of the unicast stream of media content to a browser for playback.

In another example, an apparatus for processing media data is providedthat includes a memory configured to store video data and a processor.The processor is configured to and can receive a multicast stream ofmedia content. The processor is configured to and can generate a unicaststream of media content from the multicast stream of media content. Theprocessor is configured to and can store one or more video frames of theunicast stream of media content. The processor is configured to and cantransmit, over one or more TCP channels using a web socket protocol, theone or more video frames of the unicast stream of media content to abrowser for playback.

In another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium isprovided that has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by oneor more processors, cause the one or more processor to: receive amulticast stream of media content; generate a unicast stream of mediacontent from the multicast stream of media content; store one or morevideo frames of the unicast stream of media content; and transmit, overone or more TCP channels using a web socket protocol, the one or morevideo frames of the unicast stream of media content to a browser forplayback.

In another example, an apparatus for processing media data is provided.The apparatus includes means for receiving, at a computing device, amulticast stream of media content, and generating, by the computingdevice, a unicast stream of media content from the multicast stream ofmedia content. The apparatus further includes means for storing, by thecomputing device, one or more video frames of the unicast stream ofmedia content. The apparatus further includes means for transmitting,over one or more TCP channels using a web socket protocol, the one ormore video frames of the unicast stream of media content to a browserfor playback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include displaying, by thecomputing device or apparatuses, the stored one or more video framesusing the browser.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include transcoding, by thecomputing device or apparatuses, the unicast stream of media contentfrom a first media format to a second media format. In such examples,the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable mediumdescribed above can include transmitting, over at least one TCP channelusing a web socket protocol, the transcoded unicast stream of mediacontent to a browser for playback. In such examples, the method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan include displaying, by the computing device or apparatuses, thetranscoded unicast stream of media content using the browser. In somecases, the transcoded unicast stream of media content is displayed usingthe browser instead of the stored one or more video frames in responseto selection of the media content as an active stream. In some examples,the stored one or more video frames of the unicast stream of mediacontent are not transcoded

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receiving, at acomputing device, an additional multicast stream of media content, andgenerating, by the computing device (or apparatuses), an additionalunicast stream of media content from the additional multicast stream ofmedia content. The method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include storing, by thecomputing device (or apparatuses), one or more video frames of theadditional unicast stream of media content. The method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can furtherinclude displaying, by the computing device (or apparatuses) using thebrowser, the transcoded unicast stream of media content as an activestream in a first portion of a display of the computing device (orapparatuses), and displaying, by the computing device (or apparatuses)using the browser, the stored one or more video frames of the additionalunicast stream of media content in a second portion of the display ofthe computing device (or apparatuses).

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include transcoding, by thecomputing device (or apparatuses), the additional unicast stream ofmedia content from the first media format to the second media format. Insome cases, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receiving inputcorresponding to a selection of content displayed in the second portionof the display, wherein the content includes the one or more videoframes of the additional unicast stream of media content. The method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan include displaying, in response to the selection of the contentdisplayed in the second portion of the display, the transcodedadditional unicast stream of media content as an active stream in thesecond portion of the display of the computing device. The method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan further include displaying, in response to the selection of thecontent displayed in the second portion of the display, the stored oneor more video frames of the unicast stream of media content in the firstportion of the display of the computing device.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receiving (by thecomputing device or apparatuses) information associated with an amountof CPU consumption of the computing device (or apparatuses), andadjusting a number of frames from the unicast stream of media contentthat are stored in the memory. In such examples, the number of framescan be adjusted in response to the information associated with theamount of CPU consumption. In some cases, the method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includeadjusting a resolution of one or more video frames in response to theinformation associated with the amount of CPU consumption. In someexamples, the resolution can be adjusted without adjusting the framerate at which the frames are stored and provided to the browser forplayback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofCPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption has exceeded a CPUconsumption threshold. In some examples, the method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includeincreasing the number of frames from the unicast stream of media contentthat are stored in the memory when the information associated with theamount of CPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption is below a CPUconsumption threshold. In some examples, the method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includedecreasing the number of frames from the unicast stream of media contentthat are stored in the memory when the information associated with theamount of CPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption has increased.In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include increasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofCPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption has decreased.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receivinginformation associated with an amount of random access memory (RAM)usage by the computing device, and adjusting a number of frames from theunicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory, whereinthe number of frames are adjusted in response to the informationassociated with the amount of RAM usage. In some examples, the method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan include adjusting a resolution of the one or more video frames inresponse to the information associated with the amount of RAM usage. Insome examples, the resolution can be adjusted without adjusting theframe rate at which the frames are stored and provided to the browserfor playback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage has exceeded a RAM usage threshold. Insome examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include increasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage is below a RAM usage threshold. Insome examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage has increased. In some examples, themethod, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable mediumdescribed above can include increasing the number of frames from theunicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory when theinformation associated with the amount of RAM usage indicates the RAMusage has decreased.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receivinginformation associated with an amount of resources used by the browser,and adjusting a number of frames from the unicast stream of mediacontent that are stored in the memory, wherein the number of frames areadjusted in response to the information associated with the amount ofresources used by the browser. In some examples, the method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan include adjusting a resolution of the one or more video frames inresponse to the information associated with the amount of resources usedby the browser. In some examples, the resolution can be adjusted withoutadjusting the frame rate at which the frames are stored and provided tothe browser for playback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofresources used by the browser indicates the amount of resources hasexceeded a resource usage threshold. In some examples, the method,apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described abovecan include increasing the number of frames from the unicast stream ofmedia content that are stored in the memory when the informationassociated with the amount of resources used by the browser indicatesthe amount of resources is below a resource usage threshold. In someexamples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described above can include decreasing the number of frames fromthe unicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory whenthe information associated with the amount of resources used by thebrowser indicates the amount of resources has increased. In someexamples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described above can include increasing the number of frames fromthe unicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory whenthe information associated with the amount of resources used by thebrowser indicates the amount of resources has decreased.

According to at least one other example, another method of processingmedia data is provided. The method can include receiving, at a computingdevice, a multicast stream of media content. The method can furtherinclude generating, by the computing device, a unicast stream of mediacontent from the multicast stream of media content. The method canfurther include dividing, by the computing device, the unicast stream ofmedia content into data fragments, and transmitting, over one or moreTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels using a web socketprotocol, one or more data fragments of the unicast stream of mediacontent to a browser for playback.

In another example, an apparatus for processing media data is providedthat includes a memory configured to store video data and a processor.The processor is configured to and can receive a multicast stream ofmedia content. The processor is configured to and can generate a unicaststream of media content from the multicast stream of media content. Theprocessor is configured to and can divide the unicast stream of mediacontent into data fragments. The processor is configured to and cantransmit, over one or more Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) channelsusing a web socket protocol, one or more data fragments of the unicaststream of media content to a browser for playback.

In another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium isprovided that has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by oneor more processors, cause the one or more processor to: receive amulticast stream of media content; generate a unicast stream of mediacontent from the multicast stream of media content; divide the unicaststream of media content into data fragments, and transmit, over one ormore Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels using a web socketprotocol, one or more data fragments of the unicast stream of mediacontent to a browser for playback.

In another example, an apparatus for processing media data is provided.The apparatus includes means for receiving a multicast stream of mediacontent. The apparatus can further include means for generating aunicast stream of media content from the multicast stream of mediacontent. The apparatus can further include means for dividing, by thecomputing device, the unicast stream of media content into datafragments. The apparatus can further include means for transmitting,over one or more Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels using aweb socket protocol, one or more data fragments of the unicast stream ofmedia content to a browser for playback.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include transcoding, by thecomputing device, the unicast stream of media content from a first mediaformat to a second media format. Dividing the unicast stream of mediacontent can include dividing the transcoded unicast stream of mediacontent into the data fragments.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include receiving the oneor more data fragments of the unicast stream of media content on a localHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) port. The one or more data fragmentsare transmitted from the HTTP port to the browser using the web socketprotocol.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include decrypting one ormore payloads of the multicast stream of media content.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include encrypting the oneor more data fragments of the unicast stream of media content beforetransmitting the one or more data fragments to the browser.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include displaying, by thecomputing device using the browser, the one or more data fragments ofthe unicast stream of media content.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include storing the datafragments of the unicast stream of media content.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include storing one or morevideo frames of the unicast stream of media content. In some cases, thestored one or more video frames of the unicast stream of media contentare not transcoded. In some examples, the method, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above can includedisplaying, by the computing device, the stored one or more video framesusing the browser.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include: receiving, at thecomputing device, an additional multicast stream of media content;generating, by the computing device, an additional unicast stream ofmedia content from the an additional multicast stream of media content;storing one or more video frames of the additional unicast stream ofmedia content; displaying, by the computing device using the browser,the one or more data fragments of the unicast stream of media content ina first portion of a display of the computing device; and displaying, bythe computing device using the browser, the stored one or more videoframes of the additional unicast stream of media content in a secondportion of a display of the computing device.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include: obtainingperformance data associated with the computing device; obtaining userdata associated with the computing device, the user data including atleast one of one or more types of channels viewed by a user using amedia player of the computing device and a viewing configuration of thevideos associated with the user; and obtaining a quality recommendationindicating a transcoding quality to generate when a particular channelis selected by the user on the computing device, wherein the qualityrecommendation is based on the performance data and the user data.

In some examples, the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above can include: sending theperformance data and the user data to a server; and receiving thequality recommendation from the server.

In some examples, the transcoding quality includes at least one of aresolution, a frame rate, and a bit rate of a video.

In some examples, the quality recommendation is determined using machinelearning. In some cases, the machine learning is based on a neuralnetwork.

This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features ofthe claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolationto determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject mattershould be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entirespecification of this patent, any or all drawings, and each claim.

The foregoing, together with other features and embodiments, will becomemore apparent upon referring to the following specification, claims, andaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments of the present application are described indetail below with reference to the following drawing figures:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example system architecture, inaccordance with some examples;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of components used by acomputing device for processing video content, in accordance with someexamples;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another example of components used bya computing device for processing video content, in accordance with someexamples;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing different payload diagrams of atransport stream, in accordance with some examples;

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing an example of a multi-unicast videodelivery system;

FIG. 5B is a diagram showing an example of a multi-cast video deliverysystem, in accordance with some examples;

FIG. 6 is a picture illustrating an example display with a mosaic viewof video streams, in accordance with some examples;

FIG. 7 is a picture illustrating another example display with the mosaicview of video streams, in accordance with some examples;

FIG. 8 is a picture illustrating another example display with the mosaicview of video streams, in accordance with some examples;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a process forprocessing media data, in accordance with some examples;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating another example of a process forprocessing media data, in accordance with some examples;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating another example of a process forprocessing media data, in accordance with some examples; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example of a computer system, inaccordance with some examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments of the application. However, it will be apparent thatvarious embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Thefigures and description are not intended to be restrictive.

The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is notintended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of thedisclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodimentswill provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description forimplementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood thatvarious changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elementswithout departing from the spirit and scope of the application as setforth in the appended claims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments maybe practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits,systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown ascomponents in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodimentsin unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits,processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown withoutunnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as aprocess which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flowdiagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchartmay describe the operations as a sequential process, many of theoperations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition,the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminatedwhen its operations are completed, but could have additional steps notincluded in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function,a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination can correspond to a return of thefunction to the calling function or the main function.

The term “machine-readable storage medium” or “computer-readable storagemedium” includes, but is not limited to, portable or non-portablestorage devices, optical storage devices, and various other mediumscapable of storing, containing, or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.A machine-readable storage medium or computer-readable storage mediummay include a non-transitory medium in which data can be stored and thatdoes not include carrier waves and/or transitory electronic signalspropagating wirelessly or over wired connections. Examples of anon-transitory medium may include, but are not limited to, a magneticdisk or tape, optical storage media such as compact disk (CD) or digitalversatile disk (DVD), flash memory, memory or memory devices. Acomputer-program product may include code and/or machine-executableinstructions that may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, aprogram, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class,or any combination of instructions, data structures, or programstatements. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or ahardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data,arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments,parameters, data, or other information may be passed, forwarded, ortransmitted using any suitable means including memory sharing, messagepassing, token passing, network transmission, or other transmissiontechnique.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or anycombination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middlewareor microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessarytasks (e.g., a computer-program product) may be stored in amachine-readable medium. A processor(s) may perform the necessary tasks.

Systems depicted in some of the figures may be provided in variousconfigurations. In some embodiments, the systems may be configured as adistributed system where one or more components of the system aredistributed across one or more networks in a cloud computing system.

As described in further detail below, certain aspects and features ofthe present disclosure relate to processing and distribution of mediacontent for playback on standard web browsers and/or other suitableplayback platforms (e.g., web-based media players, or other suitabletypes of media players). For example, in order to support playback ofmedia content without compromising the costs, latency, footprint, andoverall user experience, and without the need to rely on browser pluginsand/or extensions, the systems and techniques described herein providefor distribution and playback of media content through a network (e.g.,an enterprise network or other organizational network, or any othersuitable network) to any type of web-based browser and/or other type ofweb-based media player. In some examples, the media content can includedigital internet protocol (IP) based media streams with video and audio,or other suitable media content. The systems and techniques describedherein allow for low latency, smooth playback of a single video ormultiple videos (e.g., high definition videos or other suitable videocontent). In various examples, the systems and techniques allow fortransitions between different content, multi-window support, audiosupport, metadata support (e.g., Key-Length-Value (KLV) metadata, STANAGmetadata, and/or other type of metadata), and encryption support (e.g.,Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or other suitable encryptionstandard). For instance, as described in more detail below, systems andtechniques described herein can provide the ability to transitionbetween a single view (with a single video) and a mosaic view (withmultiple videos), where the audio and video of the media content stay insynchronization.

The use of internet protocol (IP) based digital media has grownexponentially in almost all sectors, including, for example, consumer,broadcast, government, military, medical, corporate, and educationalsectors. Digital media can include video, audio, and/or metadata. Withcontent such as television (TV) channels, security video, militarytactical and situational awareness video, locally produced video (e.g.,corporate video) being encoded to IP streams, among others,organizations and/or other entities of any size are increasingly relyingon these media streams (also referred to as video streams) for criticalapplications. It is desirable, and sometimes needed, for theseorganizations and/or entities to make this content available to theirusers from any computing device, such as a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet, a wearabledevice, and/or other suitable mobile device), and/or other suitablecomputing device. In some cases, consumption of the media content can berequired inside the closed networks of the organizations and/or entitiesand over public networks between buildings or sites.

Existing solutions for processing, distribution, and playback of mediacontent to users throughout a network (e.g., an organization's network)create several challenges. One example of such an issue is formatcompatibility. For example, media content (TV content, broadcastcontent, streaming content, military content, among other types ofcontent) is typically produced in a particular format (e.g., in MPEGTransport Stream format, or other suitable format), which cannot beplayed back by some default media players. Illustrative examples ofdefault media players include those incorporated by common operatingsystem vendors such as Apple™, Microsoft™, and Google™. As a result,existing solutions need to transcode received media content to a mediaformat that is natively supported by typical information technology (IT)environments. Illustrative examples of natively-supported media formatsinclude Apple's HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), Adobe™ Flash, HTML5, amongothers. For instance, the transcoding process can include decoding theoriginal video content (and possibly audio content) to basebanduncompressed video (and uncompressed audio, if present), and thenre-encoding the content to a new format. In some cases, the content canbe wrapped in a container defined by the browser vendors. As describedherein, after transcoding to one of the “internet streaming” formats,the delivery to the client is based on unicast, meaning that a dedicatedstream is sent to each computing device (e.g., a viewer or clientdevice). For example, the unicast stream can come as a “package” withthe selection to use a standard, such as HLS, HTML5, or Flash.

Another issue is equipment cost and points of failure. For instance, thetranscoding process requires certain equipment (e.g., software,hardware, or both hardware and software), which adds to capitalexpenditure and operational expenditure, as well as additional footprintand compute power. Such overhead grows along with the growth in amountof content being consumed by the organization or entity. Further, sincethe transcoding process is a critical component in the data path,failure in this component will impact the quality of service of thevideo delivery solution. For instance, if the transcoding is performedat a server for multiple users, failure of the server during thetranscoding process can affect many users.

Yet another issue is latency (also referred to as delay). For example,the transcoding process takes a certain amount of time to complete,which adds delay to when the video is ready for rendering and displayafter being received. Additionally, the transcoding process typicallytranscodes from the protocol at which the video was received (e.g.,MPEG, HEVC, AVC, or other suitable format) to an Internet-orientedprotocol (e.g., HLS, SST, Flash, or the like). Such Internet-orientedprotocols have built-in buffering and/or caching in order to allow videoreceivers (and/or video players) to cope with and adjust for the reducedquality of service that may be experienced when streaming over theInternet, which is the network environment for which these streamingprotocols were originally designed. The reduced quality of service canbe due to, for example, bandwidth issues and/or other network qualityissues. For example, the Internet experiences many glitches and up anddown bandwidth spikes. A buffering delay or latency can be hardcodedinto the Internet-oriented protocols so users will not experience thebandwidth discontinuity and will instead have continuous playback ofmedia content.

The latency can vary from a few seconds to half a minute (or even longerin some cases). The latency associated with the buffering and/or cachingcan be much greater than the latency associated with the transcodingprocess. For example, the latency required for transcoding can be a fewvideo frames, while the latency associated with buffering can be manyseconds. For example, HLS may require five seconds of buffering (e.g.,equivalent to approximately 150 video frames in a 30 frames per second(fps) video), which can be hardcoded into the protocol. The large amountof latency can be extremely challenging to cope with when real-timevideo is needed for critical tasks, such as, for example, monitoring acritical experiment, tracking targets in a military mission, watching alive sports game on a media device and/or inside a sports arena,performing a medical procedure, among others.

Bandwidth utilization is another issue that can arise with theprocessing, distribution, and playback of media content to usersthroughout a network. The use of traditional Internet streamingprotocols, which are used in order to achieve native playback onbrowsers, dictates the use of individual unicast sessions for eachviewer. Such a requirement for unicast sessions for each viewer createsan inefficient delivery scheme for large organizations that may havemany users (e.g., thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds or thousands ofusers, or possibly more). In such cases, even when the same content isviewed by large groups of users, each user requires a separate copy ofthe stream (a “unicast stream”), thus adding overhead to the networkcore and demanding complex costly on-premise infra-structure.

Another issue is enterprise content protection support. Contentproviders (e.g., Comcast™, DirecTV™, Dish™, among others), militaryunits, government units, hospitals, among other media contentconsumption organizations or entities are quickly adopting the use ofAdvanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-256 bit Cipher Blocker Chaining(CBC) and/or Electronic Codebook (ECB) encryption for securing InternetProtocol television (IPTV) content. The AES standard is not supportednatively in browsers (e.g., web browsers or mobile browsers).

Furthermore, displaying certain metadata can create issues. For example,with respect to military metadata, in intelligence, reconnaissance, andsurveillance (ISR) applications, the use of the Motion Imagery StandardBoard (MISB) Key-Length-Value (KLV) metadata has become a primary methodof carrying critical information related to the video frames. Thisstandard is implemented within the MPEG transport stream (TS) as aprivate packet identifier (PID), which is not a method or standardsupported by any browser or any internet-oriented streaming protocolprovided by the browser vendors.

In addition, some providers have opted to develop and installthird-party applications and/or media players that support the originalformat of the media content (e.g., MPEG, Advanced Video Coding (AVC),High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), or the like), and that are able totake advantage of the multicast protocol and the network's capability tosmartly manage multicast sessions using Internet Group ManagementProtocol (IGMP). Such third-party applications allow organizations todeliver multicast content in the original format of the media (e.g.,MEPG content, AVC content, HEVC content, or the like) directly to users'playback devices.

In some cases, providers have created an even more convenient experiencewith offering their users MPEG (or other coding format) multicastplayers/decoders in the form of browser extensions or plugins so thatusers will be able to use browsers on their devices to access live IPvideo streams. A browser extension or plugin is a way to add a customapplication into a browser that is not native to the browser. In oneillustrative example, browser extensions (or plugins) can be createdaccording to Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI),which is an application programming interface (API) that allows browserextensions to be developed. However, a recent evolution of security bestpractices and decisions made by many browser providers (e.g., GoogleChrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox) have decided to discontinuethe support for browser extensions (e.g., NPAPI browser extensions),rendering this approach for accepting MPEG multicast video intoproprietary browser player applications infeasible to maintain movingforward. While the concept of browser extensions and plugins waseliminated, additional logic can still be added to browsers, but theadditional logic must conform to certain security and vulnerability bestpractices. JavaScript is one of the widely used protocols that isallowed for use with web browsers.

The systems and methods described herein provide the distribution ofmedia content for playback on standard web browsers and/or othersuitable playback platform. The systems and methods allow continued useof existing encoders (e.g., MPEG encoders, AVC encoders, HEVC encoders,or the like) and existing bandwidth-efficient multicast streams. Thesolutions provided by the systems and methods described herein avoid theneed to force enterprises and their users to change existing equipmentand/or to change the existing methods of ingesting and streaming mediacontent. The solutions also avoid the need to force the introduction ofmulti-unicast distribution servers and to overload networks withexcessive numbers of video streams (due to a different unicast streambeing required for each user). The systems and methods described hereincan also remove the need to use a plugin with a browser, but stillmaintain the ability to tap into the same format as that of a receivedvideo stream so as to not require a server to transcode the video andprovide the transcoded video as an individual unique unicast stream toeach computing device, which is very inefficient from a bandwidth andprocessing standpoint.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example system architecture 100. Asshown, each computing device (or computer) can includes a system 102that can process incoming multicast media content according to thetechniques described herein. The system 102 includes a media player 104,a browser 106, a multicast processing system 108, an operating system110, among other components. In one illustrative example, the browser106 can include a web browser, such as an HTML5 web browser or any othersuitable web browser. The media player 104 can include a browser-basedmedia player, also referred to as a web player. The multicast processingsystem 108 can include a decryption and local streaming engine 128, ametadata extractor 134, a transcoder 130, and a frame grabber 132, amongother components. Different examples of the system 102 are describedbelow with respect to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, including systems 202 and 302.Details of the functionality of the decryption and local streamingengine 128, the metadata extractor 134, the transcoder 130, and theframe grabber 132, among other components of the multicast processingsystem 108 will be provided below with respect to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of components of a system202 used by a computing device for processing multicast media content.The components of the system 202 can include and/or can be implementedusing electronic circuits or other electronic hardware, which caninclude one or more programmable electronic circuits (e.g.,microprocessors, graphics processing units (GPUs), digital signalprocessors (DSPs), central processing units (CPUs), and/or othersuitable electronic circuits), and/or can include and/or can beimplemented using computer software, firmware, or any combinationthereof, to perform the various operations described herein. While thesystem 202 is shown to include certain components, one of ordinary skillwill appreciate that the system 202 can include more or fewer componentsthan those shown in FIG. 2.

The multicast processing system 208 can be a stand-alone softwarepackage that can be installed on a computing device and that caninteract with one or more web browsers, media players (e.g., web playersor other types of media players), operating systems, and/or otherapplications or programs installed on the computing device. In somecases, the multicast processing system 208 is platform agnostic, andthus can work with any type of computing device using any type ofoperating system, such as a computing device running a Macintosh™operating system, a Windows™ operating system, a LINUX™ operatingsystem, or any other operating system.

The system 202, using the multicast processing system 208, can implementthe IGMP protocol (or other suitable protocol) to join any number ofUser Datagram Protocol (UDP) multicast Transport Streams (TS) requestedby a given viewer through the computing device. For example, as shown inFIG. 2, the media content can be received as one or more multicast videotransport streams 220. For example, the one or more multicast videotransport streams 220 can be MPEG transport streams (MPEG-TS) receivedvia multicast UDP. While UDP MPEG transport streams are standard in manyenvironments (e.g., video broadcasting, medical, military, amongothers), the one or more multicast video transport streams 220 can be inany other suitable format, such as AVC, HEVC, or other suitable videoformat.

Each of the one or more multicast video transport streams 220 (eachtransport stream is referred to as a multicast TS) can include encryptedvideo and/or audio data (e.g., encrypted using AES or other suitableencryption method) and can also include metadata (e.g., KLV metadata orother suitable metadata). As described herein, the system 202 can handleany type of encryption, alleviating the problem that arises when aparticular encryption standard (e.g., the AES encryption standard) isnot supported natively in web browsers.

As shown in FIG. 2, two data paths are then created, including a firstdata path 222 and a second data path 224. Over the first data path 222,a multicast TS is sent to a digital content recorder 226, which caninclude a digital video recorder (DVR) or other suitable device orcomponent that can record digital media content. For example, theoriginal multicast TS payload of a multicast TS can be recorded inmemory (e.g., when a recording (e.g., DVR) feature has been turned on).The multicast TS record stored in the memory retains the incoming videostream (and audio, if present) intact along with its encryption (e.g.,AES encryption) and metadata (KLV/STANAG), if present in the TS.

The second data path 222 for the one or more multicast TSs is directedto a decryption and local streaming engine 228. In one illustrativeexample, the decryption and local streaming engine 228 can include anAES decryptor and local streamer. Any other type of encryption can beused in other examples. The decryption and local streaming engine 228receives (from a user permissions and keys management system 250 of amedia platform server 212) the needed encryption keys (e.g., AES keys ifAES encryption is used, or other suitable encryption key for otherencryption methods), and then activates an application that performsreal-time decryption (e.g., AES decryption if AES encryption is used, orother suitable decryption for other encryption methods) of the TSpayloads.

The decryption and local streaming engine 228 then generates a localunicast stream from each decrypted (or un-encrypted) multicast TS. Thedecryption and local streaming engine 228 transmits the unicast videoand audio data payloads securely on the local host (the computing deviceon which this process is executed) such that no other applicationresiding on the local host or attempting to access the payloads from aremote network computer can compromise the data. In some cases, amulticast TS may not include encryption, in which case the decryptionand local streaming engine 228 can generate a unicast stream from themulticast TS, without performing decryption. The decrypted local unicaststream is then processed, in parallel, by three different applications:a transcoder 230, a frame grabber 232, and a metadata extractor 234. Byperforming decryption on the computing device and generating a decryptedlocal unicast stream that is only seen by the computing device itself,the decrypted information is not exposed to other devices.

The transcoder 230 performs a transcoding process to convert the unicaststream generated by the decryption and local streaming engine 228 to aprotocol that is supported by the browser 206. For instance, theprotocol can be the protocol that can be used to render and displaymedia content (e.g., video and/audio content) using the media player 204on the browser 206. In some examples, the browser 206 can supportmultiple protocols, such as AVC (H.264) with an fMP4 data structure,MPEG-1, HLS, SST, Flash, or any other suitable format. When needed, thetranscoder 230 can transcode the unicast stream to any of these formats.When the unicast stream is already in a format that is supported by thebrowser 206, the transcoding processes can not be applied, and can besent to the data and stream relay 260. For instance, transcoding mayonly occur if the incoming video is not already using a format that canbe processed as needed for rendering and/or display by the media player304 (e.g., a HTML5 player). In one illustrative example of a transcodingprocess, the transcoder 230 can perform a RAM-based transformation(performed in the RAM) of the original video and audio to an AVC (H.264)format with an fMP4 data structure. For instance, if the incoming videois encoded using the HEVC (H.265) protocol, the transcoder 230 candecode the HEVC content, and can then re-encode the video content usingthe AVC (H.264) protocol to generate AVC content with an fMP4 datastructure. In some cases, the transcoder 230 can also re-encode theaudio content using an MPEG-1 L2 protocol or other suitable audioprotocol. Among other advantages, the AVC protocol can be used becauseit provides an ability to scale to higher resolutions (e.g., 4K, 8K, orother resolution) properly and allows delivery of high quality latencyresults.

In another illustrative example, the transcoder 230 can perform aRAM-based transformation of the original video and audio to MPEG-1 videowith MPEG-1 L2 audio. The MPEG-1 video can be in an MPEG-1 payloadformat, but can have features of other MPEG standards or otherstandards. For instance, the MPEG-1 video can have the MPEG-1 payloadformat, but can have a higher resolution than that defined by the MPEG-1standard, such as high definition, 4K (or ultra-HD) resolution, or thelike. In some cases, the MPEG-1 can be used because it can be providedin real time and does not require buffering, in contrast to HLS, Flash,and other Internet-oriented protocols that require buffering.

In other implementations, any suitable format can be used as thetranscoding output. In some cases, the transcoded video does not includethe metadata that was included in the TS.

In some cases, the transcoding process performed by the transcoder 230can be used to alter the quality (e.g., a resolution change, a framerate change, or both) based on the techniques described below foroptimizing CPU and RAM utilization.

The frame grabber 232 performs frame grabbing to yield individualhigh-quality frames from the one or more unicast streams. In certaincases, instead of rendering and displaying the transcoded video andaudio of a received TS, the media player 204 can render and display thehigh-quality frames stored by the frame grabber 232 (after being decodedby the media player 204). For example, as described in further detailbelow with respect to FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8, only the high-qualityvideo frames (e.g., with no audio being rendered) of the unicast streammay be displayed for video panes that are not active or not in focus. Insuch cases, the full unicast TS (with video and audio and in some caseswith metadata) is not displayed for the video panes that are not active.

The metadata extractor 234 performs metadata extraction to extract themetadata from the one or more unicast streams. For example, the metadataextractor 234 can be programmed to recognize which payload (e.g., fromone or more packets) from the bitstream of a unicast TS includemetadata, and can extract the relevant payload. The metadata isextracted because, in some cases, it may not be possible or it may notbe desired to embed the metadata with the video content when the unicastTS is sent to the upper layer of the browser 206. The metadataextraction thus ensures that metadata from the one or more originalmulticast TSs is not lost or omitted. The extracted metadata can laterbe rejoined with the video and/or audio when the video and/audio isbeing rendered. For example, the extracted metadata can be used by themedia player 204 to display synchronous playback of video and metadata.By extracting the metadata, and then rejoining the metadata with thevideo and/or audio later in the processing pipeline, the metadata can bedisplayed with the video at any position on a display (e.g., as anoverlay over the video, in a separate window outside of a windowdisplaying the video, or other suitable position or configuration).Extracting and rejoining the metadata also allows only certain portionsof the metadata to be selected for viewing with the video content. Forinstance, a user may select which metadata to display with a givenportion of a video.

In one or more of the transcoding, the frame grabbing, and metadataextraction processes, time stamping can be performed by the time stamper238 of the multicast processing system 208 of the computing device. Forexample, the time stamper 238 can apply time stamps to the audiopackets, the video packets, and the metadata packets. Any suitable timestamping can be used. For example, a network clock (e.g., that is usedfor all devices on a network) can be used to determine the time thatapplies to each packet. In some cases, there are one or more rows of avideo frame with pixel locations that are invisible when displayed(e.g., they are not part of the visible part of the frame, or the like).In such cases, one or more pixel values can be added to the frame insuch pixel locations, which can be used to indicate a timestamp for eachframe. A similar process can be performed for audio and metadatapackets. It can be crucial to accurately synchronize the differentvideo, audio, and/or metadata data. For instance, in a drone applicationcapturing video of an environment, it can be important that locationcoordinate information (e.g., GPS coordinates) included in the metadatais accurately synchronized with the correct video frames so that thecorrect locations within the environment are identified.

The transcoded unicast stream (e.g., video and audio) can then be pickedup on a local Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) port and piped by arun-time system 236 to a web sockets engine 240, which propagates thetranscoded media to the upper browser layer. For instance, the run-timesystem 236 can convert HTTP traffic to web sockets traffic to providethe transcoded unicast stream (e.g., over one or more TransmissionControl Protocol (TCP) channels) to the browser 206. In one illustrativeexample, the run-time system 236 can include a Node.js run-timeenvironment that executes JavaScript code, or other suitable run-timesystem that executes other type of code. The run-time system 236 can beused to tunnel the video frames of the unicast stream (e.g., HEVC videoframes, AVC video frames, MPEG1 video frames, or video having anothersuitable format based on the transcoding process) for rendering by thebrowser 206 (using the media player 204). For instance, the run-timesystem 236 (e.g., a Node.js run-time system) can receive a unicaststream from the transcoder 130, and can tunnel the unicast stream to aweb socket in the web sockets engine 240 in order to provide the unicaststream to the browser 206 (and thus the media player 204). A web socketis a real-time (or near real-time) full duplex connection between twodevices, applications, or other entities that can send data back andforth to one another, providing a persistent connection between thedevices, applications, or the like that can pass through firewalls andproxies of the network. For instance, a web socket can provide areal-time, persistent connection between a browser and a back-end server(e.g., a web server). The web sockets engine 240, using web sockets,provides a way for the multicast processing system 208 and the browser206 (and media player 204) to communicate with one another. For example,as noted above, the run-time system 236 can include a Node-js run-timeenvironment. In such an example, the Node.js run-time environment is runin the multicast processing system 208 on the computing device, allowingthe multicast processing system 208 to operate like a server incommunication with the browser 206 using websockets.

In some examples, an artificial intelligence (AI) system 264 can be usedfor predicting the best transcoding settings for a given user. Furtherdetails of the AI system 264 are described below.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of components of a system302 used by a computing device for processing multicast media content.The components of the system 302 can include and/or can be implementedusing electronic circuits or other electronic hardware, which caninclude one or more programmable electronic circuits (e.g.,microprocessors, graphics processing units (GPUs), digital signalprocessors (DSPs), central processing units (CPUs), and/or othersuitable electronic circuits), and/or can include and/or can beimplemented using computer software, firmware, or any combinationthereof, to perform the various operations described herein. While thesystem 302 is shown to include certain components, one of ordinary skillwill appreciate that the system 302 can include more or fewer componentsthan those shown in FIG. 3.

The multicast processing system 308 can be a stand-alone softwarepackage that can be installed on a computing device and that caninteract with one or more web browsers, media players (e.g., web playersor other types of media players), operating systems, and/or otherapplications or programs installed on the computing device. In somecases, the multicast processing system 308 is platform agnostic, andthus can work with any type of computing device using any type ofoperating system, such as a computing device running a Macintosh™operating system, a Windows™ operating system, a LINUX™ operatingsystem, or any other operating system.

The system 302, using the multicast processing system 308, can implementthe IGMP protocol (or other suitable protocol) to join any number ofUser Datagram Protocol (UDP) multicast Transport Streams (TS) requestedby a given viewer through the computing device. For example, as shown inFIG. 3, the media content can be received as one or more multicast videotransport streams 320. In one illustrative example, the one or moremulticast video transport streams 320 can be MPEG transport streams(MPEG-TS) received via multicast UDP. While UDP MPEG transport streamsare standard in many environments (e.g., video broadcasting, medical,military, among others), the one or more multicast video transportstreams 320 can be in any other suitable transport stream-encapsulatedvideo, such as HEVC (H.265), AVC (H.264), or other suitable video formattransported using TS over UDP.

Each of the one or more multicast video transport streams 320 (eachtransport stream is referred to as a multicast TS) can include encryptedvideo and/or audio data (e.g., encrypted using AES or other suitableencryption method) and can also include metadata (e.g., KLV metadata orother suitable metadata). As described herein, the system 302 can handleany type of encryption, alleviating the problem that arises when aparticular encryption standard (e.g., the AES encryption standard) isnot supported natively in web browsers.

As shown in FIG. 3, two data paths are then created, including a firstdata path 322 and a second data path 324. Over the first data path 322,a multicast TS is sent to a digital content recorder 326, which caninclude a digital video recorder (DVR) or other suitable software,device, and/or component that can record the raw UDP TS to a file. Forexample, the original multicast TS payload of a multicast TS can berecorded in memory or storage, such as a local disk drive (e.g., when arecording (e.g., DVR) feature has been turned on). The multicast TSrecord stored in the memory retains the incoming video stream (andaudio, if present) intact along with its encryption (e.g., AESencryption) and metadata (KLV/STANAG), if present in the TS.

The second data path 322 for the one or more multicast TSs is directedto a decryption and local streaming engine 328. In one illustrativeexample, the decryption and local streaming engine 328 can include anAES decryptor and local streamer. Any other type of encryption can beused in other examples. When the multicast TSs are encrypted, thedecryption and local streaming engine 328 receives (from a userpermissions and keys management system 350 of a media platform server312) the needed decryption keys (e.g., AES keys if AES encryption isused, or other suitable encryption key for other encryption methods),and then performs real-time decryption (e.g., AES decryption if AESencryption is used, or other suitable decryption for other encryptionmethods) of the TS payloads. When the multicast TSs are not encrypted,the multicast TSs can be sent to memory (e.g., RAM or other storage ormemory) and/or the transcoder.

The decrypted payload (or the clear payload for a transport stream thatwas not encrypted) can be accumulated in a memory buffer. The buffereddata can be obtained (e.g., immediately or after a period of time) bythe transcoder in the event the data needs to be transcoded). Asdescribed below, the buffered data (e.g., the transcoded data or thedata in the original format if transcoding is not performed) can beobtained by the data and stream relay engine 360. The buffering processcan continuously occur while the stream is being played. For example,the buffer can continuously be filled up and emptied as the media isreceived and processed by the data and stream relay engine 360. Thedecrypted or original stream can also be processed (e.g., in parallel)by a frame grabber 332 and a metadata extractor 334.

The transcoder 330 performs a transcoding process to convert the videodata of the received transport stream to a protocol that is supported bythe browser 306. For instance, the protocol can be the protocol that canbe used to render and display media content (e.g., video and/audiocontent) using the media player 304 on the browser 306. In someexamples, the browser 306 can support multiple protocols, such as AVC(H.264) with an fMP4 data structure which can be played by an HTML5media player or other suitable media player. When needed, the transcoder330 can transcode the transport stream to any of these formats. When thetransport stream is already in a format that is supported by the browser306, the transcoding processes is not applied, and can be sent to thedata and stream relay 360. For instance, transcoding may only occur ifthe incoming video is not already using a format that can be processedas needed for rendering and/or display by the media player 304 (e.g., aHTML5 player). In one illustrative example of a transcoding process, thetranscoder 330 can perform a RAM-based transformation (performed in theRAM) of the original video and audio to an AVC (H.264) format with anfMP4 data structure. For instance, if the incoming video is encodedusing the HEVC (H.265) protocol, the transcoder 330 can decode the HEVCcontent, and can then re-encode the video content using the AVC (H.264)protocol to generate AVC content with an fMP4 data structure. In somecases, the transcoder 330 can also re-encode the audio content using anMPEG-1 L2 protocol or other suitable audio protocol.

In other implementations, any suitable format can be used as thetranscoding output. In some cases, the transcoded video does not includethe metadata that was included in the TS.

In some cases, the transcoding process performed by the transcoder 230can be used to alter the quality (e.g., a resolution change, a framerate change, or both) based on the techniques described below foroptimizing CPU and RAM utilization.

The frame grabber 332 performs frame grabbing to yield individualhigh-quality frames from the one or more transport streams. In certaincases, instead of rendering and displaying the transcoded video andaudio of a received TS, the media player 304 can render and display thehigh-quality frames stored by the frame grabber 332 (after being decodedby the media player 304). For example, as described in further detailbelow with respect to FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8, only the high-qualityvideo frames (e.g., with no audio being rendered) of the transportstream may be displayed for video panes that are not active or not infocus. In such cases, the video and audio of the full transport stream(and in some cases with metadata) is not displayed for the video panesthat are not active.

The metadata extractor 334 performs metadata extraction to extract themetadata from the one or more transport streams (TSs). For example, themetadata extractor 334 can be programmed to recognize which payload(e.g., from one or more packets) from the bitstream of a TS includesmetadata, and can extract the relevant payload. The metadata isextracted because, in some cases, it may not be possible or it may notbe desired to embed the metadata with the video content when the TS issent to the upper layer of the browser 306. The metadata extraction thusensures that metadata from the one or more original multicast TSs is notlost or omitted. The extracted metadata can later be rejoined with thevideo and/or audio when the video and/audio is being rendered. Forexample, the extracted metadata can be used by the media player3 todisplay synchronous playback of video and metadata. By extracting themetadata, and then rejoining the metadata with the video and/or audiolater in the processing pipeline, the metadata can be displayed with thevideo at any position on a display (e.g., as an overlay over the video,in a separate window outside of a window displaying the video, or othersuitable position or configuration). Extracting and rejoining themetadata also allows only certain portions of the metadata to beselected for viewing with the video content. For instance, a user mayselect which metadata to display with a given portion of a video.

In one or more of the transcoding, the frame grabbing, and metadataextraction processes, time stamping can be performed by the time stamper338 of the multicast processing system 308 of the computing device. Forexample, the time stamper 338 can apply time stamps to the audiopackets, the video packets, and the metadata packets. Any suitable timestamping can be used. For example, a network clock (e.g., that is usedfor all devices on a network) can be used to determine the time thatapplies to each packet. In some cases, there are one or more rows of avideo frame with pixel locations that are invisible when displayed(e.g., they are not part of the visible part of the frame, or the like).In such cases, one or more pixel values can be added to the frame insuch pixel locations, which can be used to indicate a timestamp for eachframe. A similar process can be performed for audio and metadatapackets. As described above, accurately synchronizing the differentvideo, audio, and/or metadata data can be a crucial process, such as insurgical applications, vehicle navigation, among other applications.

After the transcoding process is performed by the transcoder 330 (orwhen transcoding is not needed, such as when media is received that isalready in a format supported by the browser 306), the data and streamrelay engine 360 can receive the transport stream and can generate smallchunks of media data from the transportstream. The chunks can begenerated using any suitable format, such as an fMP4 format. Forexample, the data and stream relay engine 360 can include a datachunker, such as an fMP4 chunker, that can divide the data of thetransportstream into smaller chunks of data. The chunks of data can alsobe referred to as data fragments. The chunks can then be sent throughone or more websockets by the web sockets engine 340 to the browser 306.For example, regardless of the format of video that comes in (unlessalready in the AVC format), the transcoder 330 can transcode the videoto AVC (H.264) video, and the data and stream relay engine 360 cangenerate the chunks of video using an fMP4 format that can then bedelivered to the browser. While AVC is used as one illustrative example,the transcoder 330 can transcode the video into any suitable videoand/or image format.

As noted above, the data and stream relay engine 360 can include a datachunker (e.g., an fMP4 chunker). The data chunker can take thetranscoded audio, video, and metadata (e.g., after the metadata isextracted and time stamped) and can create the chunks of data (or datafragments) that will be sent via web sockets to the browser 306. In somecases, the data and stream relay engine 360 can also encrypt the chunksof data (e.g., using AES or other suitable encryption technology). Forexample, although the data chunks are available only to the localcomputing device, the data can still be encrypted as it passes from RAMvia web sockets to the browser 306, in order to provide a higher levelof security and to prevent any third party application to potentiallysniff and/or intercept the data.

In one illustrative example, as noted above, the data chunker of thedata and stream relay engine 360 can create fMP4 fragments (or chunks)from incoming video data (e.g., one or more multicast UDP TransportStreams or other video data). For example, a fragmenter process of thedata and stream relay engine 360 can receive, as input, one or more MPEGTransport Streams (TSs) that are delivered (e.g., streamed) usingmulticast UDP protocol. An MPEG TS is a standardized digital containerformat used for transmission and storage of audio, video, and Programand System Information Protocol (PSIP) data. An MPEG TS can be used inbroadcast systems, such as Internet Protocol television (IPTV), DigitalVideo Broadcasting (DVB), Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC),among others. A TS specifies a container format encapsulating packetizedelementary streams, with error correction and synchronization patternfeatures for maintaining transmission integrity when the communicationchannel carrying the stream is degraded.

The fragmenter process of the data and stream relay engine 360 can joina multicast session using an IGMP “join” command and first scans thevarious programs available in the streams. Programs can be of one ormultiple types, such as video, audio, metadata, and/or other ancillaryinformation, such as closed captioning.

As described herein, transcoding may be performed due to incompatiblesource stream format, due to the user behavior and compute poweranalyzer 362 and/or AI system 364 indicating a different resolution,frame-rate, and/or bit-rate (e.g., a combination of resolution,frame-rate, and bit-rate) is more optimal for using with this specificuser or computing device, and/or due to other factors. If transcoding isneeded, a transcoding instruction is given to the multicast processingsystem 308 (e.g., to the transcoder 330) to perform the neededtranscoding work before the data flows into the fragmentation pipelineof the data and stream relay engine 360. In some cases, the transcodinginstruction can be given by the media platform server 312.

Once the correct set of video, audio, and/or metadata programs have beenidentified and have been determined to be in the desired format, thedata and stream relay engine 360 performs real-time (e.g., as the datais received) deconstruction of the multiplexed UDP payloads and createsthe following:

-   -   1. fMP4 payload(s)—Initialization segment including the boxes        ftyp (File Type Box)+moov (Movie Box).    -   2. fMP4 payload(s)—Data segments including pairs of moof box        (Movie Fragment Box)+mdat box (Media Data Box)    -   3. The system payloads ancillary metadata, such as KLV, STANAG,        and/or closed captioning data, among others. For example, the        decryption and local streaming engine 328 or the data and stream        relay engine 360 can extract the metadata in real-time (e.g., as        the data is received) from the original source stream and can        code the metadata into proprietary, frame-accurate, tagged        payloads that the media player 304 (e.g., browser player or        other suitable media player) can effectively display and align        to video frames, as described herein.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an initialization segmentwith a ftyp box and a moov box, and multiple data segments includingrespective moof boxes and mdat boxes. A ftyp box is typically placed asearly as possible in a media file, and identifies a file formatspecification that is the most suitable (e.g., referred to as the majorbrand) for parsing the file. For example, media file may have beenformatted according to a particular file format specification, but maybe compatible with other iterations of the specification. In someexamples, a player device can use the major brand to determine whetherthe device is capable of decoding and displaying the contents of thefile. In some example, the type and/or version of the operating system(OS) of the device, the type and/or version of a web browser used by thedevice, or any combination thereof can be used to determine whether thedevice is capable of decoding and displaying the contents of the file.For instance, such examples can be beneficial due to differentOS-browser combinations supporting different formats. The ftyp can alsoinclude a version number, which can be used to indicate a version of thefile format specification. In some cases, the ftyp box can include alist of compatible brands, which are others brands with which the fileis compatible. In some implementations, a media file only includes onlyone ftyp box.

The moov box can include a movie header box, and can include one or moretrack boxes, as well as other boxes. In some cases, a presentation,whether contained in one file or multiple files, can include only onemovie box (moov). The movie header box (“mvhd”) can include informationthat is media-independent and relevant to the presentation as a whole.For example, the mvhd box can include information such as a creationtime, a modification time, a timescale, and/or a duration for thepresentation, among other information. The mvhd box can also include anidentifier that identifies the next track in the presentation. A trackbox (“trak”) can contain the information for a track for a presentation.A presentation can include one or more tracks, where each track isindependent of other tracks in the presentation. Each track can includethe temporal and spatial information that is specific to the content inthe track, and each track can be associated with a media box. In somecases, a track header box (“tkhd”) can specify the characteristics of atrack contained in the track box, such as, for example, a creation time,modification time, duration, track identifier, layer identifier, groupidentifier, volume, width, and/or height of the track, among otherthings. A track box can include other suitable boxes not describedherein.

A movie fragment box (“moof”) can extend a presentation by includingadditional information that would otherwise be stored in the movie box.Using moof boxes, a presentation can be built incrementally. A moof boxcan include a movie fragment header box and one or more track fragmentboxes (“traf”), as well as other boxes not described herein. The moviefragment header box (“mfhd”) can include a sequence number. A playerdevice can use the sequence number to verify that the particularfragment includes the next piece of data for the presentation. In somecases, the contents of a file, or the files for a presentation, can beprovided to a player device out of order. For example, network packetscan arrive in an order other than in the order that the packets wereoriginally transmitted. In these cases, the sequence number can assist aplayer device in determining the correct order for fragments. A moviefragment box can include a set of track fragments (in one or more trackfragment boxes “traf”), including zero or more per track. The trackfragments can contain zero or more track runs, each of which describes acontiguous run of samples for a track. In some examples, track fragmentscan be used to add empty time to a track, in addition to adding samplesto the track.

The media data box (“mdat”) contains media data. In video tracks, forexample, the mdat box can contain video frames, packets, access units,and/or other form of video data. A mdat box can alternatively oradditionally include audio data. A presentation can include zero or moremdat boxes, which in some cases can be contained in one or moreindividual files. The media data is described by metadata. In oneillustrative example, media data in an mdat box can be described bymetadata included in a traf box. In other examples, the media data in anmdat box can be described by metadata in the moov box. In some examples,the metadata can refer to particular media data by an absolute offsetwithin the file, such that a media data header and/or free space withinthe mdat box can be skipped.

Once the multiplexed UDP payloads have been deconstructed and theabove-described data chunks and metadata are extracted and/or generated,the data and stream relay engine 360 can pack all the above fmp4payloads (e.g., initialization segment and data segments) with theproprietary payloads (e.g., with the metadata, instructions for videosync and video overlay graphics) used for ensuing audio, video, metadatasynchronization using time tagging and packet count tagging, and cansend the packaged data to the browser application layer (e.g., thebrowser 306) using websockets (e.g., implemented by the web socketsengine 340).

The browser 360 can then process the packaged data (e.g., usingJavaScript). For example, the browser 360 can separate the fMP4 data todisplay in HTML <video> tag using media source extensions (MSE). MSE isa World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specification that allows JavaScriptto send byte streams to media codecs within Web browsers that supportHTML 5 video and audio. In one example, MSE allows the implementation ofclient-side prefetching and buffering code for streaming media entirelyin JavaScript. MSE is used as an illustrative example. One of ordinaryskill will appreciate that any other suitable specification can also beused. The browser 360 can takes the metadata (e.g., KLV and/or othermetadata) and display the metadata on canvas using WebGL to overlay themetadata over the video content. WebGL is a JavaScript API for renderinginteractive 2D and/or 3D graphics within a web browser without the useof plug-ins. In some cases, the browser 360 can take Web Video TextTracks format (WebVTT) and manipulates the HTML <track> element attachedto the <video> tag.

When the media player 304 is processing multiple video streams, thebrowser process described above can be performed for each stream inparallel. In some cases, in order to ensure the local user's machine CPUand RAM optimization during live decoding of multiple streams, themulticast processing system 308 can continuously or periodicallycommunicate with the media platform server 312 to determine whichstreams will be transcoded to what quality (including resolution, framerate, and/or bit rate), such that the user receives the highest qualityfor the active video and possibly lower quality on secondary videopanes, until the focus is changed to another video stream which may takehigher priority in terms of video quality over the other streams beingdecoded.

In some cases, as noted above, the received multicast content (e.g., atransport stream, such as an MPEG transport stream) can be recorded bythe digital content recorder. In some cases, the digital contentrecorder 226 can record the chunks of data (e.g., the fMP4 chunks). Insome implementations, the received multicast content and the chunks ofdata can be recorded. In other implementations, the received multicastcontent is not recorded when the chunks of data are recorded. Recordingthe chunks of data can provide the benefit of allowing a quicktransition between live playback and recorded playback (e.g., in a DVRscenario, when pausing live television content and then fast forwardingfrom the paused position up to the live progress of the channel). Themedia player 304 and/or browser 306 player can access the stored chunksof data (e.g., MP4 chunks) and can seamlessly transition to the livechunks of data, as opposed to using the original raw multicast contentthat would require pre-processing (e.g., transcoding and chunking)before it can be played in the browser 306.

The web sockets engine 340 can send the chunks of media data (or datafragments) to the upper browser layer, which can include the transcodedmedia or non-transcoded media if transcoding is not needed. As describedabove, a web socket is a real-time (or near real-time) full duplexconnection between two devices, applications, or other entities that cansend data back and forth to one another, providing a persistentconnection between the devices, applications, or the like that can passthrough firewalls and proxies of the network. For instance, a web socketcan provide a real-time, persistent connection between a browser and aback-end server (e.g., a web server). The web sockets engine 340, usingweb sockets, provides a way for the multicast processing system 308 andthe browser 306 (and media player 304) to communicate with one another.

In some examples, an artificial intelligence (AI) system 364 can be usedfor predicting the best transcoding settings for a given user. Furtherdetails of the AI system 364 are described below.

In some cases, the multicast processing system (e.g., multicastprocessing system 208 and/or multicast processing system 308) can alsoreport performance data to the playback synchronizer (e.g., playbacksynchronizer 252 and/or playback synchronizer 352) of the media platformserver (e.g., media platform server 212 and/or media platform server312). In some implementations, the multicast processing system 208 canuse a full-duplex, proprietary, and secure communication protocol toreport the performance data from the run-time system 236 to the playbacksynchronizer 252. For example, the multicast processing system 208 canreport performance data from the run-time system 236 to the playbacksynchronizer 252. In another example, the multicast processing system308 can report performance data from the data and stream relay 360 tothe playback synchronizer 352. In some cases, a user behavior andcompute power analyzer (e.g., user behavior and compute power analyzer262 and/or user behavior and compute power analyzer 362) can providecompute power information to an AI system 264, as described in moredetail below. The performance data can include information related tocomputing device and/or the media playback, such as CPU consumption,random access memory (RAM, which is memory of the local computer) usage,resources used by the media player (e.g., media player 204 and/or mediaplayer 304) and browser (e.g., browser 206 and/or browser 306) playingthe video, video and audio payloads that are being sent to the Websockets engine 240 and/or 340 (e.g., based on the time stampinginformation), how many video streams are being processed (e.g., at thesame time), and/or other information. The performance data informationcan be used by the media platform server (e.g., media platform server212 and/or media platform server 312) to perform one or more functions,such as to accelerate video rendering and playback on neighboringclients, to ensure synchronized playback (e.g., by the playbacksynchronizer) and possibly the elimination of any echo when the samevideo content is being played by computing devices being viewed byviewers seated close to one another, or other function. It is noted thatthe media platform server (e.g., media platform server 212 and/or mediaplatform server 312) is not part of the system (e.g., system 202 and/orsystem 302), and can be remote from the computing device on which thesystem 202 and/or 302 is installed. In some cases, the media platformserver can be implemented using one or more cloud computing devices orremote servers located remotely from the computing device.

The frames grabbed by the frame grabber (e.g., frame grabber 232 and/orframe grabber 332) can be sent directly to the Web sockets engine (e.g.,Web sockets engine 240 and/or Web sockets engine 340), and can bepropagated in real-time to the media player 204 and/or the media player304 (e.g., executed by the browser 206 and/or 306) when needed. Themedia player can use these frames to create a full-motion videoexperience of one or more additional IP source streams the user chose toplayback, but are not being used as the “active video” (or “focusvideo”) that also includes active audio. Further details regarding anactive video versus non-active videos in a mosaic view are described inmore detail below.

In some cases, the CPU consumption, RAM usage, and/or resources used bythe browser and/or media player playing the video can be used by theframe grabber (e.g., frame grabber 232 and/or frame grabber 332) toadjust the number of frames that are stored and/or to adjust theresolution of the frames. For example, the frame grabber can receiveinformation that indicates an amount of CPU consumption of the computingdevice, an amount of RAM usage of the computing device, and/or an amountof resources used by the browser and/or media player for playing certaincontent. In some cases, the frame grabber can adjust a number of framesthat are stored in response to the amount of CPU consumption, RAM usage,and/or amount of resources used by the browser. In some cases, the framegrabber can adjust a resolution of the frames in response to the amountof CPU consumption, RAM usage, and/or amount of resources used by thebrowser.

In one illustrative example, the number of frames that are stored can bedecreased when the CPU consumption has exceeded a CPU consumptionthreshold (e.g., 70%, 80%, 90%, or other suitable amount), when the RAMusage has exceeded a RAM usage threshold (e.g., 70%, 80%, 90%, or othersuitable amount), and/or when the amount of resources used by thebrowser exceed a resource usage threshold. In another illustrativeexample, the number of frames that are stored can be increased when theCPU consumption is below the CPU consumption threshold, when the RAMusage is below the RAM usage threshold, and/or when the amount ofresources used by the browser is below the resource usage threshold. Inanother illustrative example, the number of frames that are stored canbe decreased when the CPU consumption has increased by a certain amount(e.g., by more than 40%, 50%, or other suitable amount), when the RAMusage has increased by a certain amount (e.g., by more than 40%, 50%, orother suitable amount), and/or when the amount of resources used by thebrowser has increased by a certain amount (e.g., by more than 40%, 50%,or other suitable amount). In another illustrative example, the numberof frames that are stored can be increased when the CPU consumption hasdecreased by a certain amount (e.g., by more than 40%, 50%, or othersuitable amount) when the RAM usage has decreased by a certain amount(e.g., by more than 40%, 50%, or other suitable amount), and/or when theamount of resources used by the browser has decreased by a certainamount (e.g., by more than 40%, 50%, or other suitable amount).

As noted above, an artificial intelligence (AI) system (e.g., AI system264 and/or 364) can be used for predicting the best transcoding settingsfor a given user. The AI system can be part of the media platform server212. In some cases, the AI system can use machine learning to performthe operations described herein. For example, the AI system can includea neural network (e.g., a convolutional neural network or other suitablenetwork) or other type of machine learning system. As described in moredetail below, the AI system provides the ability to learn the user'spatterns and playback environment, and to adjust the contentaccordingly. For example, the AI system can analyze behavior on a givencomputing device (e.g., a host computer) when playing a given channel(on its own or in parallel to additional channels being played in amulti-view mode of the media player, as described below). In some cases,the habits of a user can be tracked in terms of how many videos the userwatches simultaneously (e.g., by which grid the user using the most).The AI system can take into account the screen resolution and average itover a period of time (e.g., a few hours, one or more days, etc. ofuse). Using such data, the AI system can predict a most likely way theuser will invoke the media player (e.g., media player 204 and/or mediaplayer 304) at a future time, and can deliver to the browser (e.g.,browser 206 and/or 306) video with optimized characteristics (e.g., atan optimized frame rate and/or resolution). For example, the optimizedcharacteristics can be selected so that they will not compromise theviewing experience and so that CPU and/or RAM usage as saved (e.g., bynot providing pixels that might not be needed since the user is watchinga 3×3 grid and each video was originally 1920×1080).

The AI system can improve the inefficient and compromising experiencetraditional delivered by content providers (e.g., over-the-top (OTT)video streaming protocols). For instance, existing internet videostreaming standards, such as HLS, HDS, MPEG-DASH, create multipleversions of a video by transcoding the original content to differentquality streams. Each stream of the different quality can be referred toas a profile, and each profile can vary from other profiles inresolution, frame rate, bit rate, audio quality, any combinationthereof, and/or other quality metrics. When a user wants to play acertain channel, the media player can select the lowest quality profileas possible, a profile with a quality in the middle of the availablequalities, or other profile, and can being displaying the videoassociated with the selected profile. While this process has advantages,there are also problems associated with such a process. For example, theinitial viewing experience can be compromised due to starting with a lowprofile, which can improve over time. For instance, over time (e.g.,after 5-60 seconds), a traditional streaming player (e.g., OTT player)can detect if the network connection (e.g., Internet, cellular, or thelike) is robust enough to allow use of more bandwidth, and if so, theplayer can switch to a higher quality profile. The player may continueto select higher quality profiles, if the player detects more availablebandwidth that can be used and if higher quality profiles are available.In some cases, a player can also downgrade quality if the bandwidth ornetwork quality is degraded. Such an adaptive approach is useful forInternet applications (e.g., streaming content over the Internet), sincean Internet connection varies when used at home or on the move on amobile device.

Such a learning curve of traditional streaming media players, and theswitching from a low profile to a higher quality profile, can happenevery time a user changes to a new channel. Further, transcoder computepower for video processing may be extremely high in such situationsbecause the transcoder needs to produce multiple profiles, even thoughnot all of the profiles will be used. In some cases, the transcoder usedfor streaming applications can be in a cloud-based server (remote fromthe end user client device). Cloud-based transcoders can work forInternet streaming systems since the transcoding is done one time forall users, due to all users sharing the same profiles and each useraccessing the profile they need on-demand (e.g., as an HTTP download).However, in the systems described above (e.g., system 202 and system302) that include a multicast processing system (e.g., multicastprocessing system 208 and/or multicast processing system 308), thetranscoder (e.g., transcoder 230 and/or 330) is in each computingdevice, in which case more efficiency is needed to avoid producingunneeded profiles and to thus reduce the amount of transcodingprocessing.

In a closed-network scenario (e.g., in an Enterprise network), thenetwork bandwidth can be consistent without many changes (especially ascompared to Internet services). In such cases, the factors impactingquality of service (QoS) and/or a computer's ability to properly displayvideo is associated with other aspects of the environment. For example,such factors can include usage of the computer that will display thevideo due to other applications running in parallel (e.g., emailapplications, Internet browsers, etc.). Such usage can be usage of theCPU, RAM, graphics processing unit (GPU), and other resources of thecomputer. In other examples, the factors affecting QoS and thecomputer's ability to display video can include how many other videosare being played, what resolution of screen the specific computingdevice has (e.g., there is no reason to show an 1920×1080 HD video ifthe computing device has a 1920×1080 screen and is currently trying toview 16 videos in a multi-view grid, since all of the videos will needto be reduced in size to fit screen).

As described above, the systems 202 and 302 allow delivery of multicastcontent directly to a client computing device (of an end-user), insteadof having content (e.g., data chunks) delivered from a server to eachcomputing device (e.g., to avoid sending data to each computing device).Such a multicast approach is a more scalable way to deliver video (e.g.,on enterprise networks, home networks, and/or other networks). Thetranscoding process can be used to optimize the quality of the video oneach client computing device based on the factors described above.However, media players traditionally adapt video on-the-fly as thesession progresses and as the player learns more about the environment.

The AI system described herein can use historic data (e.g., based oninformation from multicast processing system 208 and/or multicastprocessing system 308) to accurately predict the needed media format tobe generated by the transcoder. For example, the multicast processingsystem 308 can collect data associated with video playback by acomputing device, and can send the data to the media platform server312. In some cases, the user behavior and compute power analyzer 362 cancollect the data. The data collected by the multicast processing system308 can include performance data of the playback computing device, thetype of channels the user is watching, how the user views the videos,any combination thereof, and/or other data that can be used to predict amedia format.

As noted above, the data collected by the multicast processing system(e.g., system 208 and/or system 308) can include performance data of theplayback computing device. The performance data can include datarelating to resources of the computing device. The resources can includethe RAM, CPU, GPU, any combination thereof, or other suitable componentof the computing device. The information can include how much of eachresource is being used over time, the time or times at which a user usesthe media player (e.g., media player 204 or 304) to view the contentprovided through the multicast processing system. Such informationallows the AI system to learn the user's day-to-day habits as it relatesto the computing device. In an enterprise environment for example,enterprise users can tend to run the same software in the background,use the same applications in parallel to watching video, among otherhabits, on a daily basis. The actual compute resources of a given useron a given computing device can be determined and analyzed as thedifferent uses are performed. In some cases, the parameters of thedifferent components of a computing device (e.g., amount of RAM, amountof CPU, and amount of GPU that the computing device has) can also beused.

The data collected by the multicast processing system (e.g., system 208and/or system 308) can also include the type of channels the user iswatching. For example, there can be many channels (e.g., hundreds ofchannels) in a channel lineup, but users may only view a subset of thefull channel list. In one illustrative example, an enterprise network ofa company can have hundreds of channels, and users with access to theenterprise network can access certain channels based on the users'function in the organization, based on the users' personal preferences,based on user permissions set by information technology personnel, amongother factors.

The data collected by the multicast processing system (e.g., system 208and/or system 308) can also include data indicating how users view inthe media player (e.g., media player 204 and/or 304) the videos providedby the multicast processing system. For example, the data may indicatethat users view videos one at a time, always in a quad grid (with fourvideos at a time), sometimes in quad grid and sometimes in a grid of 16,or in any other configuration. As another example, the data may indicatewhat screens are used by the users. Such screen type information can behighly useful because it is not desirable for the multicast processingsystem to deliver more pixels per video than the screen can even shownatively, and it is also not desirable to deliver less pixels than thatwhich can be displayed, which will result in interpolation by thegraphics card.

Using the data collected by the multicast processing system (e.g.,multicast processing system 208 and/or multicast processing system 308),the AI system (e.g., AI system 264 and/or AI system 364) can learnusers' habits, the users' computing devices, and how the users viewvideos. The learned data can then be used by the AI system to determinea quality recommendation that indicates the quality that should begenerated by the transcoder (e.g., transcoder 230 and/or transcoder 330)when processing the transport stream. The quality recommendation isspecific to a given user and a given computing device. For example, thequality recommendation can indicate to the transcoder the quality togenerate when a given channel is selected by a given user on a givencomputer. The AI system can send the quality recommendation to thetranscoder of the multicast processing system (which resides andoperates on each user computing device), and the transcoder can generatevideo having the quality specified by the quality recommendation when agiven channel is selected by a given user on a given computer.

A goal of the AI system is to accurately predict the best settingspossible for the transcoding process performed by the transcoder of themulticast processing system, such that from the start of the viewingsession the user will get the best quality video possible (e.g.,tailored to the computing device, the screen, and the user's viewinghabits). The AI system can substantially reduce the learning curve of alocal adaptive media player that does not have usage history data, caneliminate the need to create many profiles that may never be used, andcan improve the viewing experience due to less switching and less CPU(and other resources) being used for unneeded transcoding steps.

Another advantage of the AI system described above is the ability togenerate the predictions even in information technology (IT)environments where users move from one location to another. For example,in some organizations, military bases, government facilities, or thelike, computing device workstations are not personal. In such cases, theworkstations may be used by various users. Each individual user can bedetected using an active directory username unique to each user and,unlike other solutions that have local player logic, the media platformserver (e.g., server 212 and/or 312) can fetch the user's data (based onthe active directory username) and provide quality recommendationsregardless of which computer is being used. Data about each computingdevice on a given network (e.g., an enterprise network, home network, orother network) can also be known by the AI system. For example, a serialnumber or other unique identifier can be used to identify a computingdevice. The AI system can know how to match a user's data with the dataunique to the computing device the user is currently using, Thecombination of the user data and computing device data allows the AIsystem to accurately predict best settings needed for any user using anymachine.

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing an example of a multi-unicast videodelivery system (e.g., within an enterprise network) that providestraditional video delivery for plugin-less HLS, Flash, HTML5, or othersuitable enterprise solutions. FIG. 5B is a diagram showing an exampleof a multi-cast video delivery system (e.g., within an enterprisenetwork) that utilizes the techniques disclosed herein (e.g., using asystem such as system 202 or system 302) to provide multicast deliverywith playback using any suitable protocol (e.g., HTML5 or otherprotocol). The components of the systems shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5Bcan be located within a single location (e.g., a server room of abuilding or the like), or can be distributed in different locations.

For both the systems shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, an example of videoconsumption is used, where four unique multicast video channels(including video channels 400, 401, 402, and 403 and video channels 500,501, 502, and 503) are provided at 3 megabits per second (Mbps) each.The systems shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B can each include a multi-siteenterprise network that serves four locations with 500 users in eachlocation. The different sets of 500 end user clients can be present indifferent locations, such as buildings, venues, or other suitablelocations. As shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, the multicast content can beprovided to the core network switch 504 from four sources, which caninclude any suitable content source. Illustrative examples of contentsources include a local TV channel feed, a satellite TV channel, a cableTV content provider (e.g., Comcast™, TimeWarner™, DirecTV™, or thelike), or other suitable source. One of ordinary skill will appreciatethat more or fewer content sources than those shown in FIG. 5A and FIG.5B can be included. For illustrative purposes, it can be assumed in bothFIG. 5A and FIG. 5B that each user is consuming/viewing one or more ofthese channels (e.g., displaying all four channels in a mosaic view,displaying one or more of the channels while recording one or more ofthe other channels, viewing a single channel on a desktop/laptop player,or other suitable configuration).

As shown, the multi-unicast system shown in FIG. 5A requires the use ofone or more transcoding and distribution servers 402 to receive themulticast traffic from a first network switch 404, transcode the contentinto an internet stream format natively supported by typical operatingsystems and/or browsers and distributing this content as individualunicast streams, with a total of a minimum of 1500 unicast streams (oneper user). As noted above, each multicast stream is at 3 Mbps, requiringa total of 4.5 gigabits per second (Gbps) for all 1500 unicast streams.A second switch 406 then distributes the streams to the appropriatelocations, with 500 streams going to three different edge networkswitches (APs) 408, 410, 412 that each serve 500 end user clientcomputing devices. In some cases, instead of or in addition to wireless(e.g., WiFI) Aps, physical network switches can be used when the systemof FIG. is implemented in a local area network (e.g., an enterprisenetwork). While only two switches 404 and 406 are shown in FIG. 5A, oneof ordinary skill will appreciate that more network switches can beincluded in the network.

A multi-unicast system, such as that shown in FIG. 5A, requires aninvestment in a large amount of hardware infrastructure because serversare needed to take the four individual content streams that are beingmulticasted and to redistribute them as separate individual unicastcopies for every computing device that requests the streams. Forexample, entities that have a large number of content channels and avast amount of computing devices consuming the content on their network,with each computing device being able to watch and/or record multiplevideos at the same time, may need to spend tens of millions of dollarson network infrastructure to perform the transcoding and routingfunctions for the multi-unicast approach. The transcoding and routingfunctions of the transcoding and distribution servers 402 also addlatency to the system, as discussed above. As also discussed above,failure of the transcoding and distribution servers 402 (e.g., duringthe transcoding process) will negatively impact the quality of serviceof the video delivery solution because the transcoding is performed formultiple computing devices, and failure of the transcoding anddistribution servers 402 can affect all of the computing devices.

The use of a multi-unicast system, such as that shown in FIG. 5A, is dueto browser based media players (or web players) traditionally being usedonly for Internet-based video, and Internet-based systems not supportingmulticast video based on the infrastructure of such Internet-basedsystems (e.g., the routers and switches in Internet infrastructures).

The multicast system shown in FIG. 5B is superior in many ways ascompared to the multi-unicast system shown in FIG. 5A, due to the use ofthe system 102 (e.g., system 202 shown in FIG. 2 or system 302 shown inFIG. 3) being deployed in each of the end user client computing devices.For example, the multicast system shown in FIG. 5B eliminates costlyservers (including hardware and/or software) for transcoding andduplication of the video streams, such as the transcoding anddistribution servers 402 shown in FIG. 5A. Further, the multicast systemfeatures much lower playback latency (delay) due to the fact thatdelivery to the client computers is done using real-time transportstreams (e.g., HEVC streams, AVC streams, MPEG streams, or otherformat), in which case buffering and/or caching (e.g., to anInternet-oriented protocol) is not needed before providing the contentto the computing devices. For instance, the transport streams arereceived at the computing device and then transcoding is performed onthe transport streams at the computing device itself, only when neededbased on the individual performance, computational power, capabilitiesand health state of the at computing device eliminating the need tocompromise playback latency and quality of service collectively to allusers. In some cases, buffering can be added, such as for computingdevices receiving the multicast transport streams over a wirelessconnection, but the buffering can be dynamically adjusted and optimized(e.g., to include 500 milliseconds, 1000 milliseconds, or other smallamount of time) so that minimal latency is experienced by the user.Because the buffering would be implemented by the computing device, eachcomputing device can decide when to implement buffering (e.g., when awireless network connection is being used) and when not to implementbuffering (e.g., when a wired network connection is being used).

The multicast system also delivers the same amount of streams across thenetwork to all users using 125 times less bandwidth. For example, asshown in FIG. 5B, the same four multicast content streams are providedto the last hop of the network (e.g., the access points), so that thereis only 12 Mbps (4 streams×3 Mbps) of bandwidth utilization every stepof the way. Such a reduction in bandwidth is because, with multicasting,every computing device that requests a content stream (e.g., atelevision channel or the like) joins the same bitstream, allowing thenetwork routers and switches to handle join and leave requests using theefficient IGMP protocol. For instance, a separate unicast copy of thebitstream is not needed in multicast, so that instead of having 1500different bitstreams (like with the system in FIG. 5A), only fourbitstreams are needed, resulting in 12 Mbps utilization compared to 1.5Gbps. The multicast system shown in FIG. 5B also limits the effect dueto a point of failure in the transcoding and redistribution process orother process performed by the multicast processing system (e.g.,multicast processing system 108, multicast processing system 208, and/ormulticast processing system 308). For example, if the multicastprocessing system (e.g., system 108, 208, or 308) fails during one ormore of the processes performed by the system, the failure will onlyeffect the device on which the multicast processing system is installed,as opposed to an entire group of computing devices that are effectedwhen the transcoding and distribution servers 402 (of FIG. 5A) fail.

As shown in FIG. 5B, the network switch 504 can receive the multicasttraffic from the four content sources, and can route the multicasttraffic to the network switch 506 (or router). While a network switch506 is described, other network gateway devices can be used, such asrouters or other devices. The network switch 506 can route the multicasttraffic to the access points, which can wirelessly route the multicasttraffic to each computing device. In some cases, the multicast trafficcan be routed to one or more of the computing devices over a wiredconnection. While only two switches 504 and 506 are shown in FIG. 5B,one of ordinary skill will appreciate that more network switches can beincluded in the network depending on the network traffic and how manynetwork ports are needed for a given network environment. For example,if the system shown in FIG. 5B is implemented in a large venue (e.g., anarena, a hospital, or other suitable venue), there can be 500 or morenetwork switches for routing the multicast traffic throughout thenetwork.

Even further, by using the system 202 or the system 302 in eachcomputing device, an IGMPv3 protocol that allows source-specificmulticasting (SSM) can be used by each computing device, which is notavailable using a server-based multi-unicast system, such as that shownin FIG. 5A. For example, the SSM allows delivery of multicast packets inwhich the packets that are delivered to a computing device are only thepackets originating from a specific source address (e.g., an IP address)that is specifically requested by the computing device. Selecting thesource from which content can be received, SSM improves security andreduces demands on the network. Using a server based multi-unicastsystem, the different client devices cannot request content from onlycertain source addresses, instead they are provided a unicast copy ofthe same multicast source the transcoding and redistribution server issubscribed to. Using a multicast system 202 or 302 run on each computingdevice, each of the computing devices can specify which source addressesare approved sources of content. This allows for better flexibility inselecting a multicast group while also protecting against denial ofservice attacks; hosts will only receive traffic from explicitlyrequested sources and multiple sources can offer the same multicastgroup without conflicts.

Based on the use of a system 202 or a system 302 in each computingdevice, the computing devices can still use a browser-based media playerimplemented using a desired protocol (e.g., an HTML5 protocol) andwithout the need for a plugin, but there is no need to modify theefficient, IGMP-based distribution of video on the network side justbecause a browser-based media player device does not support multicast.

In some examples, the systems 102, 202, and 302 shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2,and FIG. 3 can support a multi-view experience (e.g., using mosaic gridson a display) on a plugin-less browser player (e.g., a plugin-less HTML5browser player or other suitable player) or other media player withquick, CPU efficient transitions between video panes.

There are several challenges associated with acquiring multiple highquality streams (e.g., HD streams, 4K streams, or the like), playingthem back simultaneously on a given computer using a browser, and beingable to gracefully switch (without noticeable delay) from one activevideo to another and with audio always in sync with the video. Forexample, 1080p HD streams in broadcast quality typically use 4-30 Mbpsof MPEG payload. When consuming multiple of these video streams topopulate a mosaic grid display (e.g., a 2×2 mosaic grid, a 3×3 mosaicgrid, a 4×4 mosaic grid, or larger), many video streams (e.g., 16streams for a 4×4 grid) are received on a given computing device. Inorder to present these video streams using a browser player with noplugin, transcoding to a video format natively supported by the browsermust occur. In some cases, the transcoding could be performed by aserver with some traditional applications (e.g., the multi-unicastsystem shown in FIG. 5A), requiring it to be delivered as unicast toeach user. In some cases, the transcoding could be performed on theclient computing device by its CPU and RAM, making this taskcomputationally intensive and possibly having an adverse effect on otherapplications running on the same machine. Furthermore, when a browserplayer is processing so many video streams in parallel, the userexperience with the browser is affected when needing to switch betweenone video to another in order to activate audio or in order to maximizeviewing of a specific video.

Transcoding of up to 16 (or more) video streams in parallel on a typicalcorporate workstation may not only compromise the computer'sperformance, possibly affecting other applications, it can also simplynot work in older computers, making it impossible for certain users toview the number of streams they wish to view in a mosaic grid.

The system 102 (e.g., implemented as system 202 and/or system 302) canperform smart blending of full motion video (e.g., MPEG video) playbackof one media stream for an active video pane along with continuousdisplay of video frames (from the frame grabber) of one or more othermedia streams in all other video panes that are not in focus (are not“active”) within the mosaic grid. Such a solution provides the viewerthe experience of a standard video playing in the non-active video panesthat are not in focus. The smart blending approach provides a majoradvantage in the computational power required for generating the mosaicgrid, since the frame grabbing can be done directly from the originalvideo source without the need to transcode the video and propagate fullvideo and audio to the browser layer.

FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8 are pictures illustrating an example displaywith a mosaic view with a 3×3 grid of video streams. In the displayshown in FIG. 6, the middle pane is the active video pane. A full motionvideo (e.g., a full motion MPEG video stream, HEVC video stream, AVCvideo stream, or other video) is presented for the video stream that isdisplayed in the active video pane, which includes both video and audiocontent. When transcoding is performed, the full motion video for theactive video stream can be provided from the transcoder in the system102 (e.g., implemented as system 202 and/or system 302) to the mediaplayer 104 and/or browser 106 in the system 102. For example, datachunks or full video packets can be sent to the browser 106 from the websockets engine. The remaining video panes are the non-active videopanes. The grabbed frames from the frame grabber are displayed (insteadof the full motion video and audio content) by the player for the videostreams that are displayed in the non-active video panes.

As shown in FIG. 7, a user has selected the top-middle video pane as theactive video pane. When a user selects a different video pane to bringinto focus as the active video pane, the system 102 seamlessly switchesfrom displaying a frame-by-frame video-only representation of the videobeing displayed in the top-middle video pane to a full motion videostream (e.g., a full motion MPEG video stream, HEVC video stream, AVCvideo stream, or other video) with video and audio. The switch can beperformed by the browser application instructing the multicastprocessing system (e.g., multicast processing system 108, multicastprocessing system 208, and/or multicast processing system 308) to changethe processing mode for this given stream from the frame grabbed framesto the transcoded stream. Using the time stamping applied to each frame,the system 102 is able to perform the switch over from frame-basedplayback to full motion video (from the transcoder) playback smoothlywithout reloading and/or refreshing the player, which is typicallyrequired in other web-based video applications. For example, the videoframe and audio frame with a common time stamp can begin to be displayedfor the video stream corresponding to the newly active video pane.

In the display shown in FIG. 8, the middle pane is the active videopane. As described above, full motion video (e.g., a full motion MPEGvideo stream, HEVC video stream, AVC video stream, or other video) ispresented for the video stream that is displayed in the active videopane, which includes both video and audio content. When transcoding isperformed, the full motion video for the active video stream is providedfrom the transcoder in the system 102 (e.g., implemented as system 202and/or system 302) to the media player 104 and/or browser 106 in thesystem 102. For example, data chunks or full video packets can be sentto the browser 106 from the web sockets engine. The remaining videopanes are the non-active video panes. The grabbed frames from the framegrabber are displayed (instead of the full motion video and audiocontent) by the player for the video streams that are displayed in thenon-active video panes. The secondary, non-active video panes can bedisplayed using reduced frame-rate and/or reduced bit-rate transcodedfiles (e.g., driven by AI system predictions of the optimized qualitythat the user should use).

One or more processes can be performed, implementing the techniquesdescribed above. FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of aprocess 900 for processing media data. At block 902, the process 900includes receiving, at a computing device, a multicast stream of mediacontent. The computing device can include an end-user computing device,such as a personal desktop or laptop computer, a mobile device (e.g., amobile phone, tablet, wearable device, or the like), or any othersuitable device that can include a browser and/or player that candisplay media content. In some cases, the media content includes videocontent and audio content.

At block 904, the process 900 includes generating, by the computingdevice, a unicast stream of media content from the multicast stream ofmedia content. The unicast stream can be generated, for example, by thelocal streamer of the system 102 (e.g., implemented as system 202 shownin FIG. 2). At block 906, the process 900 includes transcoding, by thecomputing device, the unicast stream of media content from a first mediaformat to a second media format. The transcoding can be performed, forexample, by the transcoder of the system 102 (e.g., implemented assystem 202 shown in and FIG. 2). At block 908, the process 900 includestransmitting, over one or more channels (e.g., over one or more TCP orother suitable channels using a web socket protocol), the transcodedunicast stream of media content to a browser of the computing device forplayback. The browser is operated by the computing device, in which casethe transmission is performed securely within the computing device(e.g., using websockets).

In some examples, a plugin is not used for generating the unicast streamof media content and for transcoding the unicast stream of mediacontent. In some cases, the process 900 can include generating a requestto receive the multicast stream of video, and transmitting the requestto a video source, wherein the multicast stream of video is received inresponse to the request.

In some cases, the process 900 can further include receiving thetranscoded unicast stream of media content on a local port (e.g., alocal Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) port) of the computing device.In such cases, the transcoded unicast stream of media content istransmitted from the port to the browser using the web socket protocol.

In some cases, the process 900 can further include decrypting one ormore payloads of the multicast stream of media content. For example, thedecryption can be performed using one or more AES keys provided from aserver (e.g., the media platform server 212 shown in FIG. 2).

In some cases, the process 900 can further include displaying, by thecomputing device, the transcoded unicast stream of media content usingthe browser.

In some cases, the process 900 can further include storing one or morevideo frames of the unicast stream of media content. For example, theone or more video frames can be stored by the frame grabber of thesystem 202 shown in FIG. 2. In some examples, the stored one or morevideo frames of the unicast stream of media content are not transcoded.The process 900 can include displaying, by the computing device, thestored one or more video frames using the browser.

In some cases, the process 900 can include receiving, at the computingdevice, an additional multicast stream of media content. In such cases,the process 900 includes generating, by the computing device, anadditional unicast stream of media content from the an additionalmulticast stream of media content, and storing one or more video framesof the additional unicast stream of media content. In such cases, theprocess 900 can further include displaying, by the computing deviceusing the browser, the transcoded unicast stream of media content in afirst portion of a display of the computing device, and displaying, bythe computing device using the browser, the stored one or more videoframes of the additional unicast stream of media content in a secondportion of a display of the computing device. FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8illustrate examples of such a scenario.

In some cases, the process 900 can further include receiving (by thecomputing device) information associated with an amount of CPUconsumption of the computing device, and adjusting a number of framesfrom the unicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory.In such case, the number of frames can be adjusted in response to theinformation associated with the amount of CPU consumption. In someexamples, the process 900 can include adjusting a resolution of one ormore video frames in response to the information associated with theamount of CPU consumption. In some examples, the resolution can beadjusted without adjusting the frame rate at which the frames are storedand provided to the browser of the computing device for playback.

In one illustrative example, the process 900 can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofCPU consumption indicates the CPU consumption has exceeded a CPUconsumption threshold. In another illustrative example, the process 900can include increasing the number of frames from the unicast stream ofmedia content that are stored in the memory when the informationassociated with the amount of CPU consumption indicates the CPUconsumption is below a CPU consumption threshold. In anotherillustrative example, the process 900 can include decreasing the numberof frames from the unicast stream of media content that are stored inthe memory when the information associated with the amount of CPUconsumption indicates the CPU consumption has increased. In anotherillustrative example, the process 900 can include increasing the numberof frames from the unicast stream of media content that are stored inthe memory when the information associated with the amount of CPUconsumption indicates the CPU consumption has decreased.

In another illustrative example, the process 900 can include receivinginformation associated with an amount of random access memory (RAM)usage by the computing device, and adjusting a number of frames from theunicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory, whereinthe number of frames are adjusted in response to the informationassociated with the amount of RAM usage. In another illustrativeexample, the process 900 can include, adjusting a resolution of the oneor more video frames in response to the information associated with theamount of RAM usage. In some examples, the resolution can be adjustedwithout adjusting the frame rate at which the frames are stored andprovided to the browser for playback.

In another illustrative example, the process 900 can include decreasingthe number of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage has exceeded a RAM usage threshold. Inanother illustrative example, the process 900 can include increasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage is below a RAM usage threshold. Inanother illustrative example, the process 900 can include decreasing thenumber of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofRAM usage indicates the RAM usage has increased. In another illustrativeexample, the process 900 can include increasing the number of framesfrom the unicast stream of media content that are stored in the memorywhen the information associated with the amount of RAM usage indicatesthe RAM usage has decreased.

In another illustrative example, the process 900 can include receivinginformation associated with an amount of resources used by the browser,and adjusting a number of frames from the unicast stream of mediacontent that are stored in the memory, wherein the number of frames areadjusted in response to the information associated with the amount ofresources used by the browser. In another illustrative example, theprocess 900 can include adjusting a resolution of the one or more videoframes in response to the information associated with the amount ofresources used by the browser. In some examples, the resolution can beadjusted without adjusting the frame rate at which the frames are storedand provided to the browser for playback.

In another illustrative example, the process 900 can include decreasingthe number of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofresources used by the browser indicates the amount of resources hasexceeded a resource usage threshold. In another illustrative example,the process 900 can include increasing the number of frames from theunicast stream of media content that are stored in the memory when theinformation associated with the amount of resources used by the browserindicates the amount of resources is below a resource usage threshold.In another illustrative example, the process 900 can include decreasingthe number of frames from the unicast stream of media content that arestored in the memory when the information associated with the amount ofresources used by the browser indicates the amount of resources hasincreased. In another illustrative example, the process 900 can includeincreasing the number of frames from the unicast stream of media contentthat are stored in the memory when the information associated with theamount of resources used by the browser indicates the amount ofresources has decreased.

In some examples, the process 900 can include extracting metadata fromthe unicast stream of media content, wherein the transcoded unicaststream of media content does not include the metadata. The metadata caninclude KLV metadata, or other suitable metadata. In such examples, theprocess 900 can include combining the extracted metadata from theunicast stream of media content with the transcoded unicast stream ofmedia content, and displaying the combined extracted metadata and thetranscoded unicast stream of media content.

In some examples, the process 900 can include recording, in a memory ofthe computing device, one or more payloads of the multicast stream.

In some examples, the process 900 can include generating one or moretime stamps for one or more packets of the unicast stream of mediacontent, and associating the one or more time stamps with the one ormore packets of the unicast stream of media content. In such examples,time stamps can be added to audio packets, video packets, and metadatapackets of the unicast stream of media content.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating another process 1000 forprocessing media data. At block 1002, the process 1000 includesreceiving, at a computing device, a multicast stream of media content.At block 1004, the process 1000 includes generating, by the computingdevice, a unicast stream of media content from the multicast stream ofmedia content. Blocks 1002 and 1004 are similar to blocks 902 and 904 ofthe process 900. At block 1006, the process 1000 includes storing, bythe computing device, one or more video frames of the unicast stream ofmedia content. At block 1008, the process 1000 includes transmitting,over one or more channels (e.g., over one or more TCP or other suitablechannels using a web socket protocol), the one or more video frames ofthe unicast stream of media content to a browser of the computing devicefor playback. In some cases, the process 1000 can include displaying, bythe computing device, the stored one or more video frames using thebrowser. The browser is operated by the computing device, in which casethe transmission is performed securely within the computing device(e.g., using websockets).

In some examples, the process 1000 can include transcoding, by thecomputing device, the unicast stream of media content from a first mediaformat to a second media format. In such examples, the process 1000 caninclude transmitting, over at least one channel (e.g., over one or moreTCP channels or other suitable channels using a web socket protocol),the transcoded unicast stream of media content to a browser forplayback. In such examples, the process 1000 can further includedisplaying, by the computing device, the transcoded unicast stream ofmedia content using the browser. In some cases, the transcoded unicaststream of media content is displayed using the browser instead of thestored one or more video frames in response to selection of the mediacontent as an active stream (e.g., as shown in FIG. 6). In someexamples, the stored one or more video frames of the unicast stream ofmedia content are not transcoded, and instead are from the frame grabberof the system 202 shown in FIG. 2. In such examples, the process 1000can further include receiving, at a computing device, an additionalmulticast stream of media content, and generating, by the computingdevice, an additional unicast stream of media content from theadditional multicast stream of media content. The process 1000 caninclude storing, by the computing device, one or more video frames ofthe additional unicast stream of media content. The process 1000 canfurther include displaying, by the computing device using the browser,the transcoded unicast stream of media content as an active stream in afirst portion of a display of the computing device, and displaying, bythe computing device using the browser, the stored one or more videoframes of the additional unicast stream of media content in a secondportion of the display of the computing device. An illustration of suchan example is shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8.

In some cases, the process 1000 can further include transcoding, by thecomputing device, the additional unicast stream of media content fromthe first media format to the second media format. In such cases, theprocess 1000 can include receiving input corresponding to a selection ofcontent displayed in the second portion of the display. The contentincludes the one or more video frames of the additional unicast streamof media content. The process 1000 can further include displaying, inresponse to the selection of the content displayed in the second portionof the display, the transcoded additional unicast stream of mediacontent as an active stream in the second portion of the display of thecomputing device. The process 1000 can further include displaying, inresponse to the selection of the content displayed in the second portionof the display, the stored one or more video frames of the unicaststream of media content in the first portion of the display of thecomputing device.

Similar to that described above, the process 1000 can also take intoaccount CPU consumption and/or RAM consumption of the computing deviceto adjust a number of frames from the unicast stream of media contentthat are stored in the memory and/or to adjust a resolution of one ormore video frames. The process 1000 can also or alternatively take intoaccount an amount of resources used by the browser to adjust the numberof frames or the resolution of the frames. For instance, a CPUconsumption threshold, a RAM consumption threshold, and/or a resourceusage threshold can be taken into account. In another example, theincrease or decrease of the CPU consumption, RAM consumption, and/orresources used by the browser can affect whether the frame rate orresolution is increased or decreased.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of another process1100 for processing media data. At block 1102, the process 1100 includesreceiving, at a computing device, a multicast stream of media content.In some examples, the process 1100 includes decrypting one or morepayloads of the multicast stream of media content.

At block 1104, the process 1100 includes dividing, by the computingdevice, the multicast stream of media content into data fragments. Insome examples, the process 1100 includes storing the data fragments ofthe unicast stream of media content. In some cases, the one or moreframes can be stored in one or more buffers. For example, the one ormore payloads of the media content can be stored in a buffer, and thebuffered payload data can be divided into data fragments of media data.

At block 1106, the process 1100 includes transmitting, over one or moreTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels using a web socketprotocol, one or more data fragments of the multicast stream of mediacontent to a browser of the computing device for playback. The browseris operated by the computing device, in which case the transmission isperformed securely within the computing device (e.g., using websockets).In some examples, the process 1100 includes displaying, by the computingdevice using the browser, the one or more data fragments. For example, amedia player (e.g., media player 304) of the computing device can playthe video corresponding to the one or more data fragments. In someexamples, the process 1100 includes encrypting the one or more datafragments of media content before transmitting the one or more datafragments to the browser.

In some examples, the process 1100 includes transcoding, by thecomputing device, the multicast stream of media content from a firstmedia format to a second media format. Dividing the multicast stream ofmedia content can include dividing the transcoded unicast stream ofmedia content into the data fragments when transcoding is performed.When transcoding is not needed, the originally received multicast streamof media can be divided into the data fragments.

In some examples, the process 1100 includes receiving the one or moredata fragments of the multicast stream of media content on a localHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) port. The one or more data fragmentsare transmitted from the HTTP port to the browser using the web socketprotocol.

In some examples, the process 1100 includes storing one or more videoframes of the multicast stream of media content. In some cases, thestored one or more video frames of the multicast stream of media contentare not transcoded. For example, as described above, the one or morevideo frames can be obtained from the frame grabber of the system 302shown in FIG. 3. In some examples, process 1100 includes displaying, bythe computing device, the stored one or more video frames using thebrowser.

In some examples, the process 1100 includes receiving, at the computingdevice, an additional multicast stream of media content, and storing oneor more video frames of the additional multicast stream of mediacontent. The process 1100 can further include displaying, by thecomputing device using the browser, the one or more data fragments ofthe multicast stream of media content in a first portion of a display ofthe computing device, and displaying, by the computing device using thebrowser, the stored one or more video frames of the additional multicaststream of media content in a second portion of a display of thecomputing device.

In some examples, the process 1100 includes obtaining performance dataassociated with the computing device, and obtaining user data associatedwith the computing device. The user data can include one or more typesof channels viewed by a user using a media player of the computingdevice, a viewing configuration of the videos associated with the user,a combination thereof, or any other suitable user data. The process 1100can further include obtaining a quality recommendation indicating atranscoding quality to generate when a particular channel is selected bythe user on the computing device. In some cases, the transcoding qualityincludes at least one of a resolution, a frame rate, and a bit rate of avideo. The quality recommendation is based on the performance data andthe user data. In some cases, the quality recommendation is determinedusing machine learning. In some cases, the machine learning is based ona neural network. For example, the performance data and user data can beinput to the neural network, and the neural network can output thequality recommendation based on processing of the performance data anduser data.

In some examples, the process 1100 includes sending the performance dataand the user data to a server; and receiving the quality recommendationfrom the server. For example, a multicast processing system (e.g., theuser behavior and compute power analyzer 362 of the multicast processingsystem 308) can send the performance and user data to a media platformserver (e.g., the media platform server 312), and the media platformserver (e.g., the AI system 364) can send the quality recommendation toa transcoder of the multicast processing system (e.g., the transcoder330 of the multicast processing system 308).

The methods and systems described above provide many benefits overexisting systems. For example, as described above, in case of themulti-unicast transcoding and redistribution approach (as shown in FIG.5A), if a server fails, the failure affects all users gettingmulti-unicast streams from that server. The benefit of using a multicastprocessing system (e.g., system 108, 208, and/or 308) is that if themulticast processing system fails at some point during the process, onlythe computing device that suffered the failure will be affected. Othercomputing devices on the network, which are joined to the multicaststream directly from the network, can continue receiving the originalmulticast content and process the content using respect multicastprocessing systems. Another example of a benefit of the distributed,client-compute approach (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5B) versus theserver-based multi-unicast approach (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5A) isregarding updates and periodic maintenance. The transcoding andredistribution servers (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5A) will need to beupdated and patched for software fixes and security updates and willneed to be taken down each time an update and patch is needed. Whendown, a server will not provide streams to computing devices, making itharder to maintain service up-time and harder for IT to coordinate androllout updates. The client-compute approach (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5B)does not have the same type of bottleneck.

The processes 900, 1000, and 1100 may be performed under the control ofone or more computer systems configured with executable instructions andmay be implemented as code (e.g., executable instructions, one or morecomputer programs, or one or more applications) executing collectivelyon one or more processors, by hardware, or combinations thereof. Forexample, the computer system can implement one or more of the system102, the system 202, and the system 302. As noted above, the code may bestored on a computer-readable or machine-readable storage medium, forexample, in the form of a computer program comprising a plurality ofinstructions executable by one or more processors. The computer-readableor machine-readable storage medium may be non-transitory.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary computer system 1200, in which variousembodiments of the present application may be implemented. The system1200 may be used to implement any of the computer systems describedabove. As shown in the figure, computer system 1200 includes aprocessing unit 1204 that communicates with a number of peripheralsubsystems via a bus subsystem 1202. These peripheral subsystems mayinclude a processing acceleration unit 1206, an I/O subsystem 1208, astorage subsystem 1218 and a communications subsystem 1224. Storagesubsystem 1218 includes tangible computer-readable storage media 1222and a system memory 1210.

Bus subsystem 1202 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 1200 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 1202 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 1202 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard.

Processing unit 1204, which can be implemented as one or more integratedcircuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller),controls the operation of computer system 1200. One or more processorsmay be included in processing unit 1204. These processors may includesingle core or multicore processors. In certain embodiments, processingunit 1204 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units1232 and/or 1234 with single or multicore processors included in eachprocessing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 1204 may also beimplemented as a quad-core processing unit formed by integrating twodual-core processors into a single chip.

In various embodiments, processing unit 1204 can execute a variety ofprograms in response to program code and can maintain multipleconcurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some orall of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s)1204 and/or in storage subsystem 1218. Through suitable programming,processor(s) 1204 can provide various functionalities described above.Computer system 1200 may additionally include a processing accelerationunit 1206, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), aspecial-purpose processor, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 1208 may include user interface input devices and userinterface output devices. User interface input devices may include akeyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad ortouch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel,a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voicecommand recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. User interface input devices may include, for example, motionsensing and/or gesture recognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect®motion sensor that enables users to control and interact with an inputdevice, such as the Microsoft Xbox® 360 game controller, through anatural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. Userinterface input devices may also include eye gesture recognition devicessuch as the Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity(e.g., ‘blinking’ while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection)from users and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voicecommands.

User interface input devices may also include, without limitation, threedimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads andgraphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digitalcameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, imagescanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers,laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additionally, userinterface input devices may include, for example, medical imaging inputdevices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging,position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography devices. Userinterface input devices may also include, for example, audio inputdevices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments and thelike.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system1200 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 1200 may comprise a storage subsystem 1218 thatcomprises software elements, shown as being currently located within asystem memory 1210. System memory 1210 may store program instructionsthat are loadable and executable on processing unit 1204, as well asdata generated during the execution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 1200, systemmemory 1210 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/ornon-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.) TheRAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediatelyaccessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processingunit 1204. In some implementations, system memory 1210 may includemultiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory(SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations,a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within computer system1200, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. Byway of example, and not limitation, system memory 1210 also illustratesapplication programs 1212, which may include client applications, Webbrowsers, mid-tier applications, relational database management systems(RDBMS), etc., program data 1214, and an operating system 1216. By wayof example, operating system 1216 may include various versions ofMicrosoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or LINUX™ operating systems, avariety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems(including without limitation the variety of GNU/LINUX™ operatingsystems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry® 10 OS, andPalm® OS operating systems.

Storage subsystem 1218 may also provide a tangible computer-readablestorage medium for storing the basic programming and data constructsthat provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software (programs,code modules, instructions) that when executed by a processor providethe functionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem1218. These software modules or instructions may be executed byprocessing unit 1204. Storage subsystem 1218 may also provide arepository for storing data used in accordance with the presentapplication.

Storage subsystem 1200 may also include a computer-readable storagemedia reader 1220 that can further be connected to computer-readablestorage media 1222. Together and, optionally, in combination with systemmemory 1210, computer-readable storage media 1222 may comprehensivelyrepresent remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plusstorage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing,storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readable information.

Computer-readable storage media 1222 containing code, or portions ofcode, can also include any appropriate media known or used in the art,including storage media and communication media, such as but not limitedto, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information. This can include tangible computer-readable storagemedia such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or other tangible computer readable media. This can also includenontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, datatransmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit thedesired information and which can be accessed by computing system 1200.

By way of example, computer-readable storage media 1222 may include ahard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatilemagnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to aremovable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive thatreads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as aCD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media.Computer-readable storage media 1222 may include, but is not limited to,Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flashdrives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, andthe like. Computer-readable storage media 1222 may also include,solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such asflash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, andthe like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamicRAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, andhybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs.The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may providenon-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data for computer system 1200.

Communications subsystem 1224 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 1224 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 1200. For example, communications subsystem 1224may enable computer system 1200 to connect to one or more devices viathe Internet. In some embodiments communications subsystem 1224 caninclude radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessingwireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephonetechnology, advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE(enhanced data rates for global evolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 familystandards, or other mobile communication technologies, or anycombination thereof), global positioning system (GPS) receivercomponents, and/or other components. In some embodiments communicationssubsystem 1224 can provide wired network connectivity (e.g., Ethernet)in addition to or instead of a wireless interface.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 1224 may also receiveinput communication in the form of structured and/or unstructured datafeeds 1226, event streams 1227, event updates 1230, and the like onbehalf of one or more users who may use computer system 1200.

By way of example, communications subsystem 1224 may be configured toreceive data feeds 1226 in real-time from users of social networksand/or other communication services such as Twitter® feeds, Facebook®updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/orreal-time updates from one or more third party information sources.

Additionally, communications subsystem 1224 may also be configured toreceive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may includeevent streams 1228 of real-time events and/or event updates 1230, thatmay be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end. Examplesof applications that generate continuous data may include, for example,sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 1224 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 1226, event streams 1228,event updates 1230, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 1200.

Computer system 1200 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a PC, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, a server rack, orany other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 1200 depicted in the figure is intendedonly as a specific example. Many other configurations having more orfewer components than the system depicted in the figure are possible.For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, firmware, software (includingapplets), or a combination. Further, connection to other computingdevices, such as network input/output devices, may be employed. Based onthe disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the application are describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in theart will recognize that the application is not limited thereto. Variousfeatures and aspects of the above-described application may be usedindividually or jointly. Further, embodiments can be utilized in anynumber of environments and applications beyond those described hereinwithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of thespecification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

Substantial variations may be made in accordance with specificrequirements. For example, customized hardware might also be used,and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software(including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further,connection to other access or computing devices such as networkinput/output devices may be employed.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the application are describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in theart will recognize that the subject matter of the application is notlimited thereto. Various features and aspects of the above-describedexamples may be used individually or jointly. Further, embodiments canbe utilized in any number of environments and applications beyond thosedescribed herein without departing from the broader spirit and scope ofthe specification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, tobe regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

In the foregoing description, for the purposes of illustration, methodswere described in a particular order. It should be appreciated that inalternate embodiments, the methods may be performed in a different orderthan that described. It should also be appreciated that the methodsdescribed above may be performed by hardware components or may beembodied in sequences of machine-executable instructions, which may beused to cause a machine, such as a general-purpose or special-purposeprocessor or logic circuits programmed with the instructions to performthe methods. These machine-executable instructions may be stored on oneor more machine readable mediums, such as CD-ROMs or other type ofoptical disks, floppy diskettes, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magneticor optical cards, flash memory, or other types of machine-readablemediums suitable for storing electronic instructions. Alternatively, themethods may be performed by a combination of hardware and software.

Where components are described as being configured to perform certainoperations, such configuration can be accomplished, for example, bydesigning electronic circuits or other hardware to perform theoperation, by programming programmable electronic circuits (e.g.,microprocessors, or other suitable electronic circuits) to perform theoperation, or any combination thereof.

While illustrative embodiments of the application have been described indetail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may beotherwise variously embodied and employed, and that the appended claimsare intended to be construed to include such variations, except aslimited by the prior art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of processing media data, comprising:receiving, at a multicast processing system of a computing device, amulticast stream of media content; dividing, by the multicast processingsystem of the computing device, the multicast stream of media contentinto data fragments; and transmitting, by the multicast processingsystem of the computing device via a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)port of the computing device that is local to both the multicastprocessing system of the computing device and a browser of the computingdevice, one or more data fragments of the multicast stream of mediacontent to the browser of the computing device for playback, wherein theone or more data fragments of the multicast stream of media content aretransmitted from the HTTP port to the browser over one or moreTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising transcoding, by the computing device, the multicaststream of media content from a first media format to a second mediaformat, wherein dividing the multicast stream of media content includesdividing the transcoded multicast stream of media content into the datafragments.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: decrypting oneor more payloads of the multicast stream of media content.
 4. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: encrypting the one or more datafragments of the multicast stream of media content before transmittingthe one or more data fragments to the browser.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: displaying, by the computing device using thebrowser, the one or more data fragments of the multicast stream of mediacontent.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing the datafragments of the multicast stream of media content.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: storing one or more video frames of themulticast stream of media content.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein thestored one or more video frames of the multicast stream of media contentare not transcoded.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:displaying, by the computing device, the stored one or more video framesusing the browser.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, at the computing device, an additional multicast stream ofmedia content; storing one or more video frames of the additionalmulticast stream of media content; displaying, by the computing deviceusing the browser, the one or more data fragments of the multicaststream of media content in a first portion of a display of the computingdevice; and displaying, by the computing device using the browser, thestored one or more video frames of the additional multicast stream ofmedia content in a second portion of a display of the computing device.11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining performancedata associated with the computing device; obtaining user dataassociated with the computing device, the user data including at leastone of one or more types of channels viewed by a user using a mediaplayer of the computing device and a viewing configuration of videosassociated with the user; and obtaining a quality recommendationindicating a transcoding quality to generate when a particular channelis selected by the user on the computing device, wherein the qualityrecommendation is based on the performance data and the user data. 12.The method of claim 11, further comprising: sending the performance dataand the user data to a server; and receiving the quality recommendationfrom the server.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the transcodingquality includes at least one of a resolution, a frame rate, and a bitrate of a video.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the qualityrecommendation is determined using machine learning.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the machine learning is based on a neural network. 16.The method of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, whenexecuted by the multicast processing system, cause the multicastprocessing system to: transcode the multicast stream of media contentfrom a first media format to a second media format, wherein dividing themulticast stream of media content includes dividing the transcodedmulticast stream of media content into the data fragments.
 17. Anapparatus comprising: a multicast processing system; a browser; one ormore processors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media including instructions which, when executed by the one ormore processors, cause: the multicast processing system to receive amulticast stream of media content; the multicast processing system todivide the multicast stream of media content into data fragments; andthe multicast processing system to transmit, via a Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP) port that is local to both the multicast processingsystem and the browser, one or more data fragments of the multicaststream of media content to the browser for playback, wherein the one ormore data fragments of the multicast stream of media content aretransmitted from the HTTP port to the browser over one or moreTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels.
 18. The apparatus of claim17, further comprising instructions which, when executed on the one ormore processors, cause the multicast processing system to transcode themulticast stream of media content from a first media format to a secondmedia format, wherein dividing the multicast stream of media contentincludes dividing the transcoded multicast stream of media content intothe data fragments.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprisinginstructions which, when executed on the one or more processors, causethe multicast processing system to: obtain performance data associatedwith the apparatus; obtain user data associated with the apparatus, theuser data including at least one of one or more types of channels viewedby a user using a media player of the apparatus and a viewingconfiguration of videos associated with the user; and obtain a qualityrecommendation indicating a transcoding quality to generate when aparticular channel is selected by the user on the apparatus, wherein thequality recommendation is based on the performance data and the userdata.
 20. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of a computing device,including instructions that, when executed by a multicast processingsystem of the computing device, cause the one or more processorsmulticast processing system to: receive a multicast stream of mediacontent; divide the multicast stream of media content into datafragments; and transmit, via a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) portof the computing device that is local to both the multicast processingsystem of the computing device and a browser of the computing device,one or more data fragments of the multicast stream of media content tothe browser of the computing device for playback, wherein the one ormore data fragments of the multicast stream of media content aretransmitted from the HTTP port to the browser over one or moreTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) channels.